A Beautiful Lie RENAMED
by AlienaCooper
Summary: Sequel to Rays of Bitter Sunlight. Time has passed.Lucy has not returned and not contacted them for a year. Worry has set in. But when she returns, is it really her fault that cracks appear? T for language. Was 'So Kiss Me Goodbye' Inside summery. R&R?
1. Over Time

Summery: Three years have passed. Lucy and Zarraq have not returned, and for a year there has been no negotiation. Elysia's been fighting, Leo's grown up and Alphonse is a state alchemist. Things have changed considerably, and things are strained. Finally the siblings have returned... united closer than they had ever been before. But once they have returned... are the cracks that are revealed _created _by them or _uncovered_?

AN: This is basically an attempt at the first chapter, I just want to see what you guys think of it, and the story line :) And thank you ubergriff500 and Corn-dono for encouraging me to carrying on!

Over Time

Time. It's a strange thing. A phenomena. Over time, wounds heal, people change, politics develop and landscapes shift. Time can feel as though it's going faster or slower. Or, most strangely of all, a year can pass, and in that time it can feel as though the individual days have gone past too quickly, but the year itself felt far longer than it was in reality.

This was true for Edward. Three years had passed. Originally, he had thought that the years had passed quickly, now reflected back, he felt as though it six, even nine, years had passed.

A lot had changed in Central in those three years. The children had grown up significantly. Not only physically, mentally as well. For Edward personally, it was a strange thing to see. Elysia developing into that awkward stage between childhood and puberty, Leo becoming more of a little person that a simple toddler, Alphonse becoming a state alchemist… being a seventeen year old… adolescent? Boy? Man? Edward felt like an old man seeing his brother in his position not all that long ago.

He leaned back in his chair and looked up. Three years. It had to have been longer than that… He had been on so many missions, a lot of them to areas where he had heard that Theodore Fuller was in, but he never saw him… or her. He sighed heavily. Where was she? What was she doing? Was she and-?

"Fullmental!"

"ARGH!" all of a sudden there was a sweeping sensation in Edward's stomach and his head felt light, as he lost balance on his chair and his body succumbed to gravity… he hit the floor. And hard.

He looked up, his hair falling in his face, squinting in the bright lights of the office. Directly above him stood the little too trigger friendly colonel Riza Hawkeye, looking very displeased. Edward tried not to make a face.

"What?" he asked innocently, not moving. He was suddenly very glad Black Hayate wasn't in the office, he'd have been covered in dog slobber by that point.

"Stop day dreaming and get on with your report."

"But Falman and Breda were there as well!"

"Don't drag us into it!" complained Breda, "we're already on our reports!"

"Yeah but can't they just use yours?!" Edward pushed himself onto his hands and looked at his colleagues for the past… too many years, (eleven almost but he didn't want to admit that to himself just yet), "they're going to just be the same."

"More perspectives, Elric," sighed Hawkeye, "look I don't make the rules, and I think they're stupid too. But they all know I'm the one who makes sure you do your work, so I get the heat if it's not done."

"What about Mustang?" grumbled Edward, getting to his feet and picking up his chair.

Hawkeye jabbed her thumb over her shoulder. Mustang had his chair facing away from everyone else. He was sniggering, and there was a smell of burning coming from the vicinity.

Edward sighed and rolled his eyes. Mustang was not a good example. He glanced quickly at Hawkeye's golden band on her left ring finger. Two years previously, she and Mustang had married. It was something everyone had been half expecting, but almost dreading at the same time. Edward just wandered how the two coped with each other.

Then he remembered the way the two would repeatedly enter the office. They would forget that there were others in the room, Mustang would inevitably have his arm around her waist, while one would be whispering in the other's each. They would more often than not lean in to kiss, then become aware of everyone else, where Hawkeye would jump away from her husband, straighten her uniform and hat, and becoming immediately very professional. Meanwhile, Mustang just swaggered in, his usual self, but under no circumstances were the others allowed to bring up what had just happened.

This cycle was repeated every morning since the two had arrived back from their honeymoon. It was strangely sweet, endearing, and every inch what the couple were like themselves.

As Edward settled himself back into his seat to go back to writing his report, his mind drifted to his current relationship. Three years, almost to the day, (their anniversary had been two days previously) he and Winry had been together. Then six months before their third anniversary… the arguments started.

He frowned. Three years… again there was that mark again. Three years. Three years ago, on the day previously, Lucy… Chaandi… Tash… their friend, their family member, had left them with her older half brother Zarraq Nabeel to go after a terrorist, traitor and another of her half brothers (this one on her father's side), Theodore Fuller. So Lucy would have her revenge… so she could bring him to justice.

Of coarse officially she had just gone back to travelling for a while. Not that a half Ishballan half Armestrian girl really answered to anyone. Since meeting Lucy, Edward had found himself meeting more and more mixed people like her. There were very few of them about, but the segregation was being pulled to pieces bit by bit, and mixed little children were beginning to be seen more often than when Edward had been a child.

It was change, and it was a change that was needed for the country. If it wasn't for those children, for people like Lucy, then the separation between Ishballans and Armestrians since the revolt would be have been impossible to break down.

He smiled to himself and put down his pen for a moment, stretching out his arms, rotating his wrists. He could feel the changes coming. It felt good. Only thing missing…

The smile disappeared. He sighed and picked up the pen, and started writing again.

They hadn't heard from Lucy or Zarraq in about a year. When she left they received a letter each about once a month, though they rarely arrived at the same time. Sometimes it could be twice a month, though that was unusual.

For her cousin, her sister, Elysia, these letters were the her only connection to a girl she should have grown up knowing. She treasured each and every letter that came to her, and even at eleven, she would still read the old letters when Lucy stopped sending them a year previously.

Edward frown again. Girl? Lucy was a small slight female, unusually slender, with a tiny build, and was mistakenly thought to be Alphonse' age when she first arrived… but now… she would have been about twenty two. Hardly a girl any more. Even though he hadn't seen her in so long she could only be described as a woman.

"Edward," came a sharp voice. He looked up, a sharp pain shot up his neck, causing him to let out a strangled yelp, "have you heard from Chaandi recently?"

Mustang was the only one who called her Chaandi. Elysia and Gracia called her Tash, as did Hawkeye. The rest of them called her Lucy, simply because they were used it.

As the years had passed, what Lucy had told him, about him hunting her name down being redundant, he had come to realise it to be true. He had thought if he found her name, everything would change. He would understand her better, her reasons would become more obvious, their relationship could have developed.

But it was never going to be like that. His understanding never changed, her reasons were still opaque and their relationship never developed. The last he reasonably blamed on Theodore Fuller, making her leave Central altogether, the former… he realised he had given the idea of a name too much emphasis. It was a label, what you called them to get their attention nothing more. Whether her name was Lucy or Chaandi or Tash, she was the same person, the name meant nothing.

He wished he had realised that before. It took him and the rest of his family loosing her for him to realise this. It was sad. And strangely, it hurt.

"Lucy?" he didn't know why he asked… was he reconfirming that thought that had passed through his head? That names meant nothing? "No… not since last time…"

Mustang frowned. He looked almost angry about this. Was he worried for the girl? Not that it was surprising… she was his niece… in his mind at least. Maes and he were practically brothers, and Maes genuinely thought of Lucy as his daughter. It made sense. But it was definitely a complex relationship. That aside, Lucy never really spent that much time with Mustang. Though Edward strongly suspected it was to do with the fact that Mustang was a reminder of both Blake Fuller, her father, and Maes Hughes, her uncle… both dead.

"Well… tell me if she gets in touch," he told him, then immediately went back to setting things alit, though this time it appeared he was trying to calm himself down.

"Damn pyromaniac," muttered Havoc beside Edward.

Edward grinned, shook his head and returned his attention to the report he was meant to be writing. He couldn't concentrate, but he knew he had to get it over and done with.

*

The line was very bad as Winry spoke to Alphonse over the phone. He was in Xing on a diplomatic mission with the Fürer. Edward and Winry both suspected that he was there mostly for show. He was only seventeen and he was already a very an accomplished Alchemist.

"You're safe though right," Winry practically screamed down the mouth piece of the phone.

"Yeah," came Alphonse's crackled reply, "they have incredibly alchemy here, I've bee-" there came some interference, and the rest of his reply was drowned out for a few seconds, "very helpful."

Winry sighed. "I can't wait for you to get home and tell us about this properly."

Alphonse laughed, though it sounded like an old man's laugh with the interference. "I know. Hey is Edward all right?"

"He's stressed out. They've piled reports on him, and Elysia's been acting up recently."

"Can you blame-" the last few words were inaudible again.

"Yeah I know," Winry sighed when he came back into focus, "but still, getting into fights in school? Shouldn't she be over that yet?"

"She's still Lucy's cousin," he said dryly, "can you see her being very…" Again his words were lost.

Winry was beginning to get very frustrated with it. "Al, this is getting ridiculous now."

"I know," he grumbled, "but it's only for a few more days and-" again.

As she waited for him to come back she heard the tinkling of a bell as someone walked in. She glanced up, then recognised the person as one of her customers, a victim from the bombings near Charlotte three years previously. She waved at them to wait a moment. "Al listen, I've got a customer, I'll call you tomorrow all right? Ed should be here too."

"Great! Talk then!"

"Bye, Al." She hung up with a sigh. She missed Alphonse, he was one of the few people who could put more control over Edward, especially during their arguments. Which were getting more frequent themselves.

She hated it. She wanted the days when they were unconditionally happy back again. Somehow she doubted that was going to happen any time soon. They're instability had been going on for a year, and things when they had called a truce were hardly the same again.

As she greeted her customer, she vaguely remembered what Gracia had told her about rough patches that a lot of couples went through. But this was different. She couldn't explain it, but it _was_ different. Something under laying what ever they did. She just wished Edward would tell her what was going on. Though for some reason he seemed to be refusing to.

She pushed these angsty thoughts to the back of her mind as she discussed what was needed with the man (who had lost an arm in the blast).

'One day,' she thought mildly, 'one day he'll tell me and we'll go back to how we were.'

*

Elysia was in the car with her mother, Rose and Leo. Again she had to have been picked up from school. She had a bloody nose, black eye and she could feel a bruise forming on her side. It was the first time she had come out of a fight with more than one bruise or cut. Then again, it was one of her more violent fights. The other boy had come out far worse than she had.

She kept quiet, knowing if she spoke she'd be in for another argument with her mother. She couldn't explain why she was so angry, or why she had allowed him to bother her so much, all she knew was that that boy had been irritating and he needed a punch.

In the front Gracia and Rose spoke in low voices, neither looking back at her. Gracia was tired of Elysia getting into so many fights, but there was very little she could do. Grounding her, telling her off, threatening confiscation of items… none of them worked on. She still got into a fight the very next day.

"Ely," whispered Leo next to her.

She looked at the seven year old boy. He was a sweet child. Big purplish brown eyes, smooth light brown skin, a little lighter than his mother's and a sweet smile. He had grown up with her for a big sister and was therefore understandably worried.

"Yeah?"

"You ok?"

"Just bit bruised," she shrugged.

"Why did you get into a fight with him?"

"He was being rude," she said shortly, "I didn't like what he was saying."

She didn't want to tell the poor child that her classmate was being rude about people from Ishbal and Lior. While a lot children in her year objected to such talk, she was the only one who took it was an attack on herself. She was well known for having Rose and Leo practically being her aunt and cousin (almost a brother and second mother) as well as having an absent big sister, or cousin, who was half Ishballan. And still some of the more racist children would direct such crude, rude propaganda towards her. Resulting in both children going to the medical room and Elysia being sent home.

The eleven year old girl could not stand it. It was hardly as though the whole year was treating her in such a way, it was just a few choice members of her year. But it still riled her.

Seeing her angry again, Leo scooted closer to her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his head on her shoulder. Suddenly Elysia felt about seven or eight years old again, with Leo hold her like he was so young. She smiled down at him, and touched his downy black hair gently, then rested her temple on his crown. Leo always knew how to make her feel more normal again. It could be a word, a touch, a sound- but he knew how. Elysia was grateful for that.

Gracia glanced back for a moment. The little girl looked incredibly battered for a girl her age. Gracia had thought that she would never have developed like that, she had always been calm as a child… now she was getting into fights daily, and the teacher's weren't entirely sure of whether or not to label her a bully.

But sitting there, head resting on Leo's, the girl looked almost angelic. Elysia somehow reminded Gracia of her father more with every passing day. She wasn't sure what it was. She had his eyes, but that was about it, almost everything else was Gracia's. Yet there was something she sensed about the young girl. Her sense of loyalty? Justice? Righteousness? Maybe all three… it was there, the same as Maes.

Perhaps that was why she was fighting, Gracia had begun to think. Perhaps the fact that so many foreigners were coming to Central meant that racism of scared adults was rubbing off on the children and Elysia was fighting back. The little never girl told her mother why she fought, she simply sat there in silence, taking the telling off, not once saying a word as to why.

At first Gracia thought it was children teasing her about the lack of a father. Soon it appeared not to be the case. Elysia was quite popular in class, no one seemed to care that she only had her mother as a parent. That aside she had the famous Winry Rockbell picking her up, or even the Fullmental Alchemist, and now the newest Azure Alchemist… both Elric brothers had made a name for themselves, and every child in Elysia's school was aware of that.

Which lead onto the other reason. Perhaps she was sick and tired of people equating her to the famous alchemists. Which made no sense as she made no effort to lash out on those who she considered family.

Which was when Gracia came up with her latest theory of Elysia standing up for her sister, Tash. A half Armestrian girl, who was no longer with them for the time being and Elysia being the girl she was bragged about her travelling big sister. The dark skinned, short, slightly built big sister.

She shook her head, and concentrated hard on the road. They were almost home. She had already resolved not to tell Elysia off yet. This was the first time she had come home with multiple bruises, instead of one. Either her opponent was strong, or she had held back. Either way, Elysia's pride had also been hurt.

'Tash… come home… soon,' Gracia thought, forlornly, as they turned into the drive of their old home, 'we miss you.'

She parked the car, and one by one they each climbed out.

*

It took Edward till twilight, but he had finally gotten up to date with all of his report writing. He could finally go home. But with Alphonse on a mission he really did not feel like going to an empty apartment. Instead he made a beeline for Winry's shop.

The woman had taken no room mates since Lucy had left, it was as though she was saving that room for her just as Gracia was. More than that, the room had become a guest room for her, and she was bringing in enough money not to need a tenant. Sometimes Edward would stay there if Winry was in a bad mood. Other times Alphonse would stay, just to get away from Edward's odd bouts of neuroticisms.

Edward found Winry in her work shop, tinkering over her 'automail eye' project. It had progressed significantly since Lucy had seen it, but it was not ready just yet.

Edward walked around and wrapped his arms around her waist, putting his head on her shoulder. She jumped in his grasp, then relaxed and smiled.

"Work over?" she asked softly.

"Yep. All up to date with my reports. Hawkeye is very happy with me."

"Good…" Winry sighed, put down her tools and turned in her seat to look up at Edward.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him gently. He returned the kiss quite happily. Though when Winry pulled away from him smiling, his returning smile was not quite meeting those golden eyes.

"What's up?" she asked, her hands resting on his shoulders.

He looked surprised. "Nothing, why would anything be wrong."

"You just seem a little distracted that's all."

"I'm not distracted," he frowned, "I've just been at work all day."

She shrugged not wanting an argument and turned her attention back to the eye.

Edward scowled. 'And she says I'm distracted,' he thought mutinously. "What about you?" he asked.

"What about me?"

"I walk in, I get a kiss, then you turn all your attention to back to your work," he tried to sound reasonable, but he could not get the whine out of his voice. He hated it when Winry did that. She had all day to work, she could take a break to spend time with _him_.

"Not all my attention," retorted Winry, "I just want to finish up."

"You can finish up later!" his temper was rising. He had never been any good at controlling his anger. "I'm here now, I won't be for long."

Winry stopped, put down her tools again and stared straight at the wall in front of her. "Is that a threat?"

"Is what a threat?" he sighed exasperatedly.

"You won't be here for long- if I don't have all my focus on you you'll leave me?"

"What! Where the hell did that come from?!"

"It sounded like that to me!" she turned around, "you can't always have it your way Ed! I have to work as well you know!"

"I'm employed by the state, Winry," snapped Edward, "you're employed by yourself- don't compare me to you!"

"Oh so because I'm self employed my job isn't as important."

"That's not what I said! It's just dif-"

"How is it different?!"

"It- it- it just is!"

"That's a ten year old's answer, Edward," she growled, "grow up."

"Grow up? Grow up! Don't tell me to fuckin' grow up- I grew up a long time ago!"

"Not a sob story…" she rolled her eyes, "you know what? I don't want to hear it. All right? I've had enough."

"Enough of me," he snapped, he stepped away from her unable to keep the glare from his expression. "All right fine- I'll go."

Winry stared at him, as he turned away she grabbed his sleeve. "Ed pl-"

"Not now," he growled, "I'll be back later."

"Ed-"

"No!" he yanked his arm out of her grasp, stormed out of them shop not looking back, and headed off in the direction of Gracia's house.

Winry sat stock still, staring at his back, getting smaller and smaller as he left. She didn't quite understand what had happened. How had they grown so far apart? Was it that secret? Was it her fault? Had she really given up on him all those years ago? Was it something else?

She heaved a sigh and turned her attention back to her work. It was the only thing that kept her distracted from all those questions.

*

Not too long later, Edward arrived at Gracia's street. He wasn't really paying attention to anything. His mind was a blank, his eyes was focused on the floor. He wasn't even aware of where he was until he arrived just outside the large city house.

He stopped and looked up. There it was. Maes Hughes house. The place where it felt like he was at home again. With Gracia, Elysia… and all the others. It was where he felt most comfortable.

But today there was something different about the house he was so familiar with.

Standing outside, looking down at his own hand, was a man. Tall, well built, somewhat bedraggled, a suitcase was on the floor beside him. He was dressed in ripped jeans and a long over coat, mostly seen on travellers. His long black hair was a little unkempt and just brushed his shoulders. As the stranger looked up at the house, Edward got the strangest feeling that he had seen this man somewhere before. He couldn't place where.

Was he local? Hardly… he carried a suitcase.

Then… a client of Winry's? Then why would a client of Winry's be outside _Gracia's_.

The thinking made Edward's head hurt as he wracked his brain for where he knew the profile from. His memory flicking through picture of all the dark haired tall men he had even met in his life. None were making sense.

Then the man seemed to hear Edward's footsteps, and he turned to face him. In the half light, Edward couldn't make out the man's features. Yet… towards the right of his scalp, something shone… a shock of silver hair running through the black…

Understanding came crashing down on Edward. This was Zarraq Nabeel, Lucy's big brother. For a moment Edward was curious as to where Lucy was, but he would not have been surprised if the girl… if the woman had gone to visit her uncle, her father and finally Harry Davis before she visited the living. Zarraq was his focus point just then; long bedraggled hair and all.

He wasn't sure how to greet the older man. He walked towards him trying to figure out what to say. He'd never really thought to try and get on with him. He was a man who had done his friend harm. It was him who had scarred Lucy, put her through misery during her life. Then again… she had forgiven him, taken him on her hunt for her traitorous half brother, and had asked no one else.

This was when he noticed something strange. Zarraq had looked at him. But he had said nothing. There was no look of recognition on his face. The Ishballan man was the sort of person who liked to greet people he recognised, that much was obvious. He knew so few people because of his life style that the few he did know he liked to acknowledge that he did. So… why hadn't he said anything yet?

"Zarraq?" his voice came out a question. The name felt strange to say. He had only ever called the man Nabeel, his surname. But at the same time, Edward was beginning to wander if this really was Lucy's brother. There was something different about him.

"Yeah…" he said slowly, his features creased into a frown, it was as though he was wracking his brains for something.

"It's Edward," he said slowly, putting his hand out to shake his, "Edward Elric? Your sister's friend?"

Understanding broke out on his face, he grinned happily, almost childlike. Now Edward _knew _there was something entirely wrong.

"Oh yeah! She told me about you guys!"

"Told you- Zarraq, you met us… you stayed with us."

Zarraq was nodding, but clearly had no idea that this had happened. "I know, she told me that too."

This was starting to scare Edward. "Who's she?"

"Your friend, my sister, Tash."

"You mean Chaandi."

"I mean Tash… but Chaandi Tash Lucy… it's the same girl."

This wasn't making any sense. Zarraq could have started called Lucy 'Tash' instead of Chaandi on their trip. Though Edward was staring to doubt it… the man seemed to have no recollection of staying with them and meeting them. His persona was almost childish, like he was learning everything again, there was not as much of a world weary air about him as there had been previously.

"Zarraq… I think we should go inside," he said slowly, "you have some explaining to do." He began walking to the door and a moment or two later he heard heavier footsteps follow him.

"I know that too… Tash warned me I might… I've got some letters from her for you all… from her."

Edward perked up. Letters from Lucy. It had been so long since they had heard anything from her. The letters were probably a little out of date, but at the same time, they were the most recent they had received from her.

But… did… that mean she wasn't with him?

They reached the door and Edward knocked. A moment later, Gracia answered, wearing an apron looking a little stressed.

"Ah Ed, I thought you'd be coming to night. Elysia's been acting up again and-" she cut herself off.

Her eyes had drifted over Edward's head to work out what was just in peripheral vision. She frowned for a second, quite literally, a worried expression over took her features only to be replaced another second later, this time with a smile. She rushed out of the door way, over to Zarraq, paused for a moment, studying his face, and touched his hair, then pulled him into a tight hug.

"You evil child," Gracia told him off, jokingly, "why didn't you warn us you were coming home." She pulled back, holding onto his arms, "how have you been? Have you being eating right? You don't look it. Honestly… where's Tash? Visiting her father? Wouldn't be surprised to be honest."

Zarraq simply stared at her, unable to comprehend what had happened. "Are you… auntie Gracia?"

She frowned. "Of coarse I am, you know that, don't joke- I haven't seen you for three years."

"Yeah… Tash told me…"

Edward replayed that in his head. "She told me." "Tash told me." Lucy seemed to have told him nearly everything. Told him. That was a problem.

"Zarraq… have you… have you lost your memory?" asked Edward slowly.

Zarraq looked at him. Paused. Then looked at the floor. He seemed to try to stop blushing. "Yes…"

Now _that _explained everything.

"What?" Gracia pulled back from him shocked, "so… you have no idea who I am?"

"Yes I do!" he insisted, "I know about everyone! Edward Elric is the Fullmental Alchemist, he has a younger brother Alphonse Elric, and they have an automail mechanic friend Winry Rockbell. Our auntie… well… her aunt is Gracia Hughes and our- her-"

"Say our dear," smiled Gracia, "it's just as accurate."

"Our cousin Elysia," he said, smiling shyly, that was odd, it really was like his entire personality had changed, "is aunt Gracia's daughter. Rose is a close family friend and her son is Leo. Mus-"

"We get it," sighed Edward, "Lucy told you about everyone." He nodded. "But you have no memories of your own."

"Not until about a year ago," he admitted.

Edward and Gracia glanced at each other. A year ago… Lucy stopped writing a year before. Could… Lucy's absence of letters be the result of Zarraq's memory loss?

"I woke up… the doctors were sur-"

"Let's carry this on inside," Gracia said suddenly, "Elysia will want to see you, Zarraq, she missed you."

Zarraq appeared surprised. Not all that shocking… he had no recollection of these people and they were welcoming him into their home. He nodded, saying nothing and followed them in.

Edward followed too, pausing in the hall way to call Winry.

"Hello?" she answered sounding confused.

"Win, it's Ed."

"Hi," she sounded a little happier, "listen about earlier-"

Edward was shaking his head as he spoke. "Win I'd love to try and sort this out now, but really we can't- something's come up."

He heard some rustling at the other end, as though she was sitting up. He had her attention. "What's happened?"

"Zarraq's back."

"And Lucy?"

"Not here, and we haven't asked him anything yet. The problem is… he seems like a completely different person…"

"Lucy has that effect on people, and they've been together for three years."

"It's not that… he… he has absolutely no memories."

"What-"

"It seems Luce has filled him in but…" he sighed, "just get over here. You have to see this for yourself."

"I'll be there in ten minutes," she said shortly, "and Ed?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

He felt his face heat as his cheeks flushed red. "I… loveyoutoo," he muttered. As he hung up he heard Winry laughing in the background. He shook his head and waited for the heat in his cheeks to disappear.

He then walked into the living room to see Zarraq sitting on the sofa, in the exact same position he had been the day before he had left previously. Elysia was at his side, chattering very quickly. He looked a little baffled, but completely comfortable. He wandered if Elysia was aware that her adopted cousin had no memories.

"We need to talk to him," Gracia spoke as she stood beside him, looking at them, "he's very confused. He only knows vaguely about us and why, but he has no memories before this… accident."

"Has he told you anything?"

"No… I thought it would be best for Winry to be here as well."

"Not Rose?"

"Not now… Leo's acting like a seven year old, she can barely control him at the moment."

"At least she's got George now."

"True…"

"And Elysia?"

"She knows, she just likes having him here."

Edward nodded, then sighed and moved to sit beside Zarraq.

"Ely, can you give it a rest for a bit?" asked Edward, "we need to talk to Zarraq."

"Oh, ok," she kept quiet but did not move. Edward tried to get her to… to no avail. She simply looked at him, then said, "I have a right to know as well you know. She's related to me, so is he, I had a right to know."

Edward scowled. "Since when were you so smart?"

"I'm my father's daughter," she shrugged, mildly.

Gracia tried not to laugh. It was almost a direct quote from her mother that Elysia had used against Edward. And she had used it to great effect. Edward had no idea what to say. He shook his head and turned his attention to Zarraq.

"What can you tell us?"

He nodded. "I woke up about a year ago…"


	2. I Remember

A/N: Just a couple of thank yous!

Corn-dono- I'm glad you liked it so much ^___^

The-Living-Shadow- Yeah... all couples argue, so why wouldn't they? Though maybe not everyone would want to imagine this couple having issues :P As for Lucy's character... read and find out ;]

This chapter is for you guys!!

I Remember...

His body felt heavy. Everything about him was dulled. His movements were heavy, his mind was sluggish and his mouth was dry. Opening his eyes felt as though they weighed a ton as he tried to force them open. All about him was a flurry of activity. There were voices all about him, someone was talking to him. The voice sounded male and authoritative.

"Sir," said the voice.

'Sir?' he thought mildly, 'why are they calling me sir?'

"Sir- can you move?"

"Water," he rasped, "I need… water…"

There were shouts for water as the man helped him to sit up. He assumed the man was a doctor.

He sat back as nurses fussed over his drips, his physical reactions and doctors about him spoke in low voices. After about two hours, the nurses left him alone with the doctor.

"So young man, you were brought in about a month ago," said doctor.

He focused on the other man, blearily. The doctor was a middle aged man. Solidly built, there was a short greying beard covering his lower jaw. His hair was dark brown, speckled with grey and white. His skin was fair, his eyes a kindly green. He looked like the sort of approachable doctor.

"Why?" the younger man asked.

"You don't know?"

He shook his head.

"You were in an accident, a severe one. You still need to recover from your injuries you endured from that time," he indicated at the younger man's leg, and arm.

"Clearly…" the reply was reproachful and dry.

The doctor cleared his throat. "Now, this might appear tedious, but we must ask all coma patients these simple questions. Now- first of all, where are you from?"

He paused. Then frowned. "I don't know."

The doctor looked puzzled, "never mind, you're still a little dazed, it's understandable. Though if I had to hazard a guess I'd say Ishbal."

The name made no difference to the young man, he simply shrugged. Then he frowned. Ishbal… that was a place. Shouldn't he then be aware of it? What were other place- he cut his mind off. He could remember nothing of the country… world he was in.

"Uh doc…" he said slowly, "I…don't know anything…"

"What?"

"If Ishbal's a place I should know it…"

"Yes."

"I have no idea where it is, what it's like- nothing. I dunno anything."

"Your own name?"

He pondered for moment and shrugged. "Nothing."

"Family?"

He frowned. He had an image. Faint. Distant. A girl… no… a young woman. Dark skinned, yet lighter than him… he got no further. He shook his head. "Nope."

The doctor sighed. "This is a problem…" he shook his head, "well we do know what your name is, but anything else is a mystery." He paused. "But we have two pieces of good news… we know your name, it was on your papers."

"What is it?" he could not believe he was asking what his own name was.

"Zarraq Nabeel."

"Zarraq Nabeel…" he said slowly, almost testing it. "Zarraq… Nabeel." He wandered if it meant anything. Why his mother had chosen it. Of it his father had. Or if he had a sibling… he tried to imagine what their name would be. What they might look at… which was fruitless considering he had no idea what his own appearance. He pushed those thoughts aside- there was no need for them just then. "Right… and the second piece of good news?"

"We have a brilliant psychiatrist here that has exercise to help you regain memory… we have a lot of accidents here, so memory loss is not uncommon here."

"Well… that's good," Zarraq nodded, "so how long will I have to stay here?"

"Judging by your condition and your mental state… we have a long time to spend together."

*

"What so big sister wasn't there?" asked Elysia, interrupting his story. Zarraq looked at her shaking his head.

"Not yet," he said, "it was another two months before she arrived."

"What did you do in that time?" asked Edward, his arm around Winry, who had arrived a little while after the story had started.

"Tried to get my body back up to scratch," he shrugged, "and get my memory back. I never got anything. Not until Tash came and found me."

*

Zarraq had been sitting in the room he had been allocated as he recuperated when he heard the shouting. Curious, he sat up, and put the book he had been reading down. The shouting had become more and more audible and decipherable. It was female, probably a young woman. By the pitch he guessed about a ten years or so younger than him, give or take, shouting at a nurse. Francis if his memory served him.

"He's my damn brother!" the stranger screamed.

"Yes but you don't understand-"

"No I don't! And I don't care- just let me see him!"

"Miss don't-"

"Don't _touch _me!"

The door suddenly burst open. Standing near the foot of his bed, in dirty, scruffy shorts and t-shirt, was a young woman. She had dark skin a shade or two lighter than his, black hair with a shock of silver running through it, like his. She had slimmer features than his, and she wore sunglasses over her eyes. She wore study dusty shoes and for some reason, gloves. Her left limbs were metal, automail, and clearly good quality to. She was staring at him as though she had seen a ghost, but the experience had been pleasant.

All of a sudden a grin broke out on her face and she rushed towards him. For some reason, and he didn't know why either, he let her, watching her curiously. But she as she reached him, she stopped. Her arms dropped, her body went slack.

"Do you know who I am?" she asked in a small voice. She looked as though she could have been in her late teens. Somehow, Zarraq was certain this was not the case.

He shook his head. "I can't remember your name… but I'm sure I remember you…"

She cracked a smile. "That's good enough for me," she reached out her right hand, "I'm Chaandi Natasha Nabeel-Fuller. Your sister. Half sister if you want to be technical."

Zarraq squinted at her face. Half formed memories flitted through his mind. But none of them stayed for long. They were all induced by this girl. His sister. Even stranger, he did not even question the validity of what she said. It wasn't just the similarity in feature, or the shock of white in their hair, it was something about her. About what she said.

He took her hand hesitantly.

"I figured you'd loose your memory. Last time I saw you, you were whacked in the head with a large chunk of concrete."

That explained the memory loss.

"What happened?"

"Big fight," she explained, "the bastard decided blowing up half the building would be a good idea. We got separated. When I woke up, I was alone… so…" she flushed red, "I've spent the last three months looking for you…" she smiled. It was distant, distracted and the softest she could manage. Again, Zarraq found himself knowing this was normal for her "Now I've found you."

"Yeah…" he agreed gently, "guess you have."

She sat on the bed with him. "So now I guess I have to explain everything to you."

Zarraq pushed himself further up his pillow and nodded excitedly. "Yes!"

She grinned. "It's nice to see not all of your personality has changed… you're as excitable as ever." She paused the think. Looking up at the ceiling.

Just beyond her, Zarraq saw the nurses muttering worriedly. But they caught sight of him glaring at them. Without thinking, he reached out and took the girl's hand. The girl, though deep in thought, squeezed his hand hard. It felt right. It just… felt right to him.

"I think… we'll start with how we're related."

"You're my sister."

"It's… a little more complicated than that," she hesitated, then "you see, our mother…"

*

"She stayed for three months, maybe a little more," Zarraq's eyes were a little glossy, his fingers twisted in his lap.

He clearly missed his sister, hadn't seen her since. The people around him felt their stomachs drop as they realised Lucy was not with him, and she was still out travelling, looking for her traitorous half brother… alone.

"She helped me with my therapy, and never left my side, apparently she even slept sitting in the chair next to me, though she always told me she had a hotel else where. I learned very quickly she's stubborn. She explain the geography of where we are, the politics, the sciences- to the best of her abilities. And soon my general knowledge of this world came back to me. So she explain how our mother was Ishballan, but her father was Armestrian and mine Ishaballan. From there she explained that we got separated when I was fifteen and she was five, then how mum died when she was seven…" he frowned, "she never went into detail about what happened when we saw each other though."

'I don't blame her,' both Edward and Winry thought, Winry's hand squeezed Edward's as he squeezed back in reply.

"And she told me all about you," he smiled around at all of them, "how you brought her in, looked after her, then… eventually… sort of took me in. Though she did warn me Edward-"

"Ed-" he interrupted, "I like Ed."

"Oh… she warned me Ed might not like me as much as the others." He flushed a little with embarrassment. "I expect it's something to do with what I've done in the past," his long dark fingers folded and unfolded in his lap, "but Tash didn't tell me all of it… she said I'd remember eventually, or I'll learn when the time comes."

Gracia nodded, and came to sit beside him, putting an arm around his shoulders. "Your memories will come back eventually, until then, you have us for references, all right?"

"Thank you, aunt Gracia," he smiled, then something seemed to hit him, "oh yes! The letters!"

He got up and went to his suitcase, and quickly opened it to rummage through it. He kept muttering to himself angrily… in the Ishballan language it seemed. The others watched him curiously. This was his same personality, but only when he was overtly calm or dazed. Though they reasoned, privately, that having lost his memories, that was understandable. Now that he was looking for something and couldn't find it, he had momentarily returned to his more usual gruff persona.

"Found it," he said, sounding satisfied.

He walked back and sat down. In his hands were envelopes. They looked a little worn, but otherwise in decent condition.

"These are from Tash," he said, "she gave them to me the day she left… looking for Theodore Fuller." One by one he gave them out, one each but two for Gracia. By the end of it he was left holding three.

"Al, Rose and Leo," he explained, "when will we see them?"

"Rose and Leo we'll probably see tomorrow, Leo and me go to school together," Elysia said brightly, "Al come home next week I think."

"He's on a mission? He's an alchemist now?"

"Has been for a year," nodded Edward, looking a little disgruntled, "he's the Azure Alchemist."

Zarraq frowned. "Azure alchemist? That…" he seemed to be concentrating on something hard, "Blake Fuller… Tash's father…"

Gracia's face softened as she remembered the man who had Maes had grown up with as an older brother. Even she looked to him as a brother-in-law. "Yeah… he's the first to take the title since Blake. I think Roy pushed it through."

"Tash'll be happy," said Zarraq mildly, "at least I think she will… she always seemed a little distracted when she spoke about her father to me."

The others forced themselves not to look at each. It must have been painful for the young woman to tell her brother who she was trying to rebuild a relationship with how awfully he had treated her in the past an why. Of coarse now he seemed perfectly reasonable, but memory loss did strange things to people.

"I take it Tash isn't here yet though…" he said slowly.

"No," supplied Elysia, "we thought she was with you."

"Oh…" his face creased with worry, "I thought she'd be here by now… she said she'd be back here soon…"

"Don't worry," Elysia took his hand, "she likes travelling, she might just be catching up with a few friends before she comes back. She'll be home soon."

Gracia's eyes shone as she looked at her daughter. It was the first time in months she sounded even the slightest bit optimistic. Despite the fact she was getting into fights and lacked the ability to control her temper just yet, Gracia could not bring herself to tell the child off. She had every reason to be an angry child. Yet here she was comforting a thirty year old man because he was worried about his sister that she had been worrying for since the young woman had left three years previously.

Elysia had strength and depth of character that Gracia did not think was possible in such a little person, not quite hitting the prepubescent years.

She was taller, of coarse, but none of the overtly feminine traits had become very obvious yet. The only thing that gave her away to be female was her long honey coloured hair and the shape of her face. Though she was fully aware that soon such changes would happen, and she wasn't looking foreword to explaining these changes to the young girl without help. She had hoped with Tash there, life would have been easier. Since her niece had left, the dread had been creeping back in.

"Zarraq," Elysia asked suddenly, as these half formed thoughts chased each other in Gracia's mind, "where are you staying?"

There was a moment's quiet as Zarraq tried to formulate an answer and what the little girl had said had reached through to Gracia.

"With me."

Everyone turned to look at Winry, surprised.

"With you?" Edward sounded incredulous.

"Of coarse, where else will he stay? The study here might have a bed, but it's covered in boxes, lets me honest- you have more books than you really need in this house."

"I like reading!" protested Elysia.

"And there is no need for him to rent out a room from anyone when I've got a perfectly good room upstairs, with its own bathroom, so no embarrassing encounters," she shrugged, "it just makes sense."

"B- b- b-," stammered Zarraq, "I can't… I don't want to impo-"

"You sound like your sister," chuckled Winry, "she was just the same." She sighed. "Look, you're Gracia's nephew, you're coming to come and stay here eventually. But, for the moment they have no where to move their book boxes out of their study, which will be your room until you get yourself on your feet. So, once they have sorted out that room, you can come stay there, once you get a job, we'll help you find your own place. I mean… you hardly want to come back here with a woman after hours now would you?"

Zarraq face flushed the darkest red imaginable on a man his complexion. It was all he could do to simply shake his head. That was something different about him. But then again with the memory loss, he would have little idea of how to deal with women in general. It was like teaching a five year old how to live a thirty year old's life at his point. They were all looking foreword to when his memory came back… and his regular gruff, brisk state was back again.

"I… I guess not…"

"You don't mind do you, Gracia? We'll help you sort out the room, but it just makes sense for the moment. And we all know Lucy'll throw a fit if anyone goes into her room."

Gracia nodded. "It makes sense."

"All right then, it's decided," Winry nodded, she got up, out of Edward's grasp and put her hand out to him, "right roomie?"

He chuckled and took her slim calloused hand. "Thanks," he said, "I owe you."

"Well do a couple of shifts for me in the workshop and you got yourself a proper deal."

Edward sat on the floor looking a little stunned, then got to his feet. "Winry, can I speak to you outside for a moment?"

"Uh… sure."

Zarraq watched the two leave, and frowned. His already confused mind wandered for a moment at the couples current relationship. From what he knew, from what Tash had told him, they were a happy working couple. Though to be fair, she hadn't heard from them in a long time when she had spoken to him.

"So!" said Elysia, "do you remember any of the Ishballan stories? You liked to tell me those."

He looked at the little girl. She looked almost nothing like his sister Tash. But there was a similarity there. In the eyes definitely. Yet… there was something more too. An aura? Their spirits? Something like that surely… What was even stranger was the fact that he felt comfortable around this little girl… a girl who was young enough to be his daughter, or even his sister the way their family had worked out.

Their eyes, skin, background… everything was differently, but he felt comfortable with this little girl. Like he had done with his little sister. As he watched her, trying to grasp at the straws of his half erased memories, he found one.

He was sitting on the sofa. The same one where he was just then. He was with Elysia, she was significantly smaller, curled up in his arm. He was reading to her, she was half asleep. She was upset, he was worried. Edward had just walked and and he had indicated that the blonde boy should stay quiet.

The visual memory faded as quickly as it had come. And while the memory had not supplied any extra information, it had confirmed that he had come to this house, he had been with these people and he had felt comfortable around them. It was another picture of memory that he thoughts had been lost. It was back. It was better than nothing.

"I remember a little," he admitted, "which one do you want to hear? Tash told me a few."

*

"What is it?" asked Winry tiredly.

"You hardly know the man!" grumbled Edward, having walked into Gracia's jumble of a study.

"I know him well enough. He's Lucy's brother, he was gruff, but kind. Mislead but learning his ways. And now he has no memories at all. We had to look after him."

"But… your spare room? Isn't that-"

Winry smiled at him gently, putting a hand on his face. He cut himself off. She pushed herself up onto her toes and kissed him softly.

"I love how you worry about me," she said quietly, "you shouldn't. Zarraq's always had a soft side, Lucy managed to get him to show it even more. He'll be fine."

"But Win…" he trailed off, not sure how to express himself as usual.

"Stay with me," she said suddenly.

"What?"

"Until Al comes home, stay with me. You can see first hand that he's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Of coarse. Look I know you trust me, and not him, bt… c'mon… he's sort of… lost… and he's Lucy's brother, we can hardly turn him away."

Edward grumbled under his breath but said nothing. He felt better knowing he'd be there with Winry the whole the time. He could make sure nothing happened to her. It definitely made him feel better.

"You know… she kinda cute when you make that face."

He blushed fiery red, "no I do not! C'mon, we'll get Zarraq to come back with us."

"We need dinner first," chuckled Winry, "don't be in such a hurry."

"Fiiiine…"

The couple re-entered the living room, Edward with his arm around Winry's shoulders (Protectively? Possessively? Winry hadn't made her mind up… neither had Edward). Elysia and Zarraq seemed to be talking.

Elysia was talking, Zarraq was nodding, appearing to be a little bemused.

Gracia had left the room, Edward suspected to get dinner ready.

"Keep an eye on them," sighed Edward, "I don't like what Elysia's doing to the poor guy… I'm gonna check on Gracia."

"You do that," chuckled Winry, she was rather proud of the dominating Elysia. The little girl reminded Winry of herself as a child; confident, dominant and not someone anyone wanted to mess with.

Edward kissed her head, knowing full well that Winry was remembering herself as a child. As he left her, he almost shuddered. She'd always been too violent for her own good. Though Elysia seemed to be better with words than with physical force.

He frowned as he headed into the kitchen. Though her physical force was clearly developing if her recent scuffles in school was anything to go by. Something he was rather upset about.

Maes Hughes had been an eccentric, but he had always wanted peace. His ultimate goal was for peace. Which was why he wanted to support Mustang in going to the top- with Mustang at the top, a man who had experienced the hell of war first hand, peace was more likely. Edward was sure that even if Hughes wasn't there physically, his presence was still felt by his friends and family. It was seen most obviously in Elysia, though just then, she wasn't showing it all that peacefully. But her fierce loyalty, and somewhat eccentric ideas, were clearly taken straight from her father. Her softer points, her mother. She was a strangely balanced child despite being surrounded by soldiers, alchemists and otherwise. Though that was in his mind, at her age Edward could remember trying to bring his mother back to life.

For a moment, he touched his metal right arm, then dropped his hand again. He had lost his limbs again to give his brother his whole body back. He was satisfied.

He heard a quiet sob, and he was pulled back sharply into reality.

He looked up to see Gracia standing over the sink, her pale cheeks flushed pink, a hand to her forehead with the water running. Stained black tears from her mascara stained the pink in her cheeks.

Not thinking twice, Edward strode over to her side, turned to face him and hugged her. He adored being taller than people, he felt more adequate to protect them. He wasn't sure what she needed protecting from, but he was going to try anyway.

Slowly her hands reached around and she returned the hug, her forehead rest on his chest as she slowly regained control of her breathing.

"Tash?" he asked, using Gracia's name for the younger woman.

Wordlessly Gracia nodded. She took a deep breath, then stepped out of Edward's embrace. "I'm just… I just… What if she's hurt Ed? What if that… that… that man's done something to her? What if we never… never see her again?" she was trying not to cry again, fighting it. And failing. Her eyes were glossy with tears.

"Gracia," he took her hands, "Gracia… think about who you're talking about. She is Chaandi Natasha Nabeel-Fuller-. She's Lucy. She's not about to let a man who ruined her life over here get the better of her. She's too damn stubborn and annoying for that." He meant every word.

Gracia smiled to herself. But soon it was replaced by a look of anguish. "But… what if I never see her again?" she whispered.

Edward had never seen her like this. She worried when Elysia was home late, and always got very upset about when it happened. Yet generally… she wasn't a paranoid woman. Throughout the three years she had been the optimist. She had been the one to tell them everything would be ok. Everything would go back to how it was once Tash and Zarraq got home. And now she was breaking down in front of him… the other at least sort of mother figure in his life, a woman who took him in and hated to let him out of her sight ever since. The wife of a man whom he owed a lot to.

"It's just that…" she said slowly, "Zarraq is so big… he's so strong physically… he has all his limbs, and he was just… if not more stubborn than Tash. ANd… he got so hurt… he can't remember anything."

"Yes, but she always knew what attitude to take when in different environments. She knew how to treat people. Maybe not how to interact with them, that's a different problem."

Gracia chuckled. Edward's own mouth turned up a little smile.

"She'll be fine… she always is. Few bumps and scratches on the way, that's how it goes right? Besides- she's travelling, she's going from city to city… country to country… it's what she does best isn't it?"

"I supposed," sighed Gracia, "that's, sweetie… I just…"

"Panicked? We all get like that from time to time."

"Not you, surely."

Edward made a face and was suddenly grateful Winry and Alphonse were not within earshot. His own panickings were utterly embarrassing. He needed to at least pretend his were not so noticeable. "Everyone does, it's just not always as obvious… it depends on the person."

She laughed again. She paused and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his forehead. "Thank you Ed," she said, releasing him as he flushed pink, "I needed that."

"I know… now what's for dinner?!"

Another laugh escaped her throat. Edward sometimes reminded her of a puppy, sometimes a lion. it depended on his mood. Just then he was like a puppy who was looking for food or someone to irritate. It was what Gracia liked about the boy… his ability to be able to shift according to the situation and atmosphere surrounding him.

As they set the table and called the others into to eat, Gracia realised there was no way she could loose hope for her niece. Zarraq was back, calmer and more sedate than normal for the time being. That was proof enough. If he could get back with memory loss, surely Blake and Zulekha's daughter could get back with her memory functions completely intact.

She smiled, laughed, interacted… she could not wait for her adoptive daughter to return to them… to make them feel like a family again.


	3. Frustration and Sickness

A/N: thanks ubergriff500 :) I hope your knee gets better soon, that doesn't sound fun... but it has to be said, I'm glad my story can keep you entertained while you're recovering ^_____^ Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Frustration and Sickness

Months passed. Two months. It felt much longer.

Edward stayed with Winry, sharing her life, her flat… her bed for nearly two weeks.

Everyday he learned to see that harmless Zarraq was, instead of trying to see something sinister in what he had to say or do. Occasionally he would stop, look confused then say "this has happened before…" Though he rarely, if ever, expanded on it.

Winry half hired him to help look after the shop, and found out he was a relatively good mechanic. Though working with automail was a disastrous idea. He was good at helping, offering ideas that might resolve any problems, it was the putting into practise that always failed.

In those two weeks before Alphonse returned that Edward's own prejudices from before he had left fell away. He spent more time with the man, getting to know the person, not the heresy. Something he should have done with the mans sister… better late than never.

When Alphonse returned, he was overjoyed to see Zarraq again. Not only because he had suspected Lucy was around, but because he liked the man. He had not lost the capability that most people had in the transition from childhood to adulthood, the strange time period called 'puberty', to be able to see through hard exteriors and at least attempt to perceive what that person is really like.

At seventeen, Alphonse was very much like his brother, solidly built, relatively tall (he was taller than Edward, but it was a subject neither talked about) with a plait going down his back. His hair was darker than Edward's, a sort of dark honey blonde. And his eyes were a sort of dark brownish blue, as opposed to the gold that his brother possessed. All the same, the brotherly similarity between the two, especially at the ages the two were then, it was unmistakable.

When the boy, nearly young man (not quite though) found out that Lucy was not in fact with them, he became concerned, but not terrified. He too wished desperately for the young woman's return, though he was more patient. More accepting.

One night that the two lay awake in their parallel bed in the hotel, Alphonse once commented, a month after Zarraq's arrival that "we can't hurry what we have no control over… she'll come when the time is right, when he job's done. Of all things in the world- we can't even think to control her."

Begrudgingly, Edward agreed.

He himself hated leaving Winry alone. Having his brother back, and the reassurance that Zarraq was a good, relatively harmless man, did mean that he had no arguments to stay with her. For the time being, the very idea of living together for the both of them was a scary one. And at that time, entirely inconvenient. They had Alphonse to consider, amongst other things.

Strangely in the months that passed, their arguments lessened somewhat, but the tension was still there. Winry still felt he was hiding something and Edward still felt like she was judging him. And yet neither confronted the other. It was left to Zarraq, Alphonse and Elysia to brood as to how to make life easier for the two of them. Elysia did point out it was hard not having someone closer to the couple's age to have a clearer perspective.

Elysia herself calmed down. She still fought, but never as aggressively. She seemed to have taken the arrival of Zarraq back into their lives as a prequel to Lucy coming home to them. She was brighter, more cheerful and less violent. The difference in her was obvious, and was something that was welcomed by her family.

Edward did not have the heart to tell her that he most likely dreaded the worst. He had been more optimistic when she had help with her, now… he was not as certain.

Two months after Zarraq's return, Edward and Alphonse found themselves back in Mustangs office. Their team had by then discovered that Zarraq was back, and it seemed they were divided by their opinions of the man. To begin with, Mustang was not a happy man, whereas his own wife thought it to be a good sign.

That morning, Alphonse fought desperately hard not to listen to the argument Edward was having with their friend and boss. He concentrated on the report in front of him (the report of the diplomatic mission that he had been putting off for about eight weeks) and almost hurt his head trying not to pay attention to them.

"And you still haven't heard anything from Lucy?" hissed Mustang.

"Not for over a year," growled Edward, trying to ignore the people trying to listen into their heated argument. Even Havoc was looking a little nervous, and he was a man who brushed off Mustang's bouts of temper.

"And your not suspicious?"

"The man has no memory beyond about a year ago!

"Isn't that a little bit suspicious?"

"I've heard this before Mustang, you can't think that he-"

"Yes I can, it's likely. The man hated her before and-"

"That's not fair. You refused to meet him before they left, and you're refusing to meet him now. You want to truth drug him or something?"

"If I have to-"

"Why are you taking this so personally?"

"Because Maes left me in charge! You know that?!"

"So why did you let her leave in the first place," he snapped. Mustang said nothing, "you had the power to stop her, you could have warned the investigation bureau not to tell her anything. You could have sent a squad to watch them, help them a long. But instead you did-"

"How could I?! She's Blake's _daughter_!"

"I am aware of that, but as you well know, I was about seven years old when the man died, and have no idea how or why that came about. So how am I supposed to know the implications unless you tell me?"

Mustang glared at him, and appeared to deflate in his seat, glaring up at Edward through his onyx eyes, the utter fathomless blackness surveying him closely. When younger, Edward would become unnerved by the action. Now he barely paid attention to it. It was a tick Mustang had when he was frustrated, angry and annoyed, simply surveying someone, or something as the case may be.

"You'll never understand… if I had stopped her from going, I'm likely to still be in hospital. If I stopped her from finding out information, she'd have left anyway. If I had sent a squad after her, they'd be back in in bandages or body bags in a week. She is Blake's daughter… when she says she's going to do something… she'll do it."

Despite the fact that Edward had researched her father three years previously, he had never read any of his reports. He had never found out about Blake Fuller's personality. From what he had heard he was clever, compassionate, loyal, a trouble maker… but not much else… Mustang clearly remembered a lot from his growing up in the military ranks to understand about Lucy's linage. But Edward was now wishing he knew more as well.

"Then have more faith in her," he sighed, he was refusing to admit defeat, "she says she'll do it, she'll do it. She trusted her brother, he seems to have pulled through so far. She says she'll take down Fuller? She's going to do it. And she'll be back here soon."

Mustang said nothing. His eyes had never left his face. Instead of saying anything else, he got to his feet and left the room without a word. Hardly making a sound. Edward closed his eyes, tiredly, unmoving.

Mustang was acting like a child. Not that he blamed him. Lucy obviously meant a lot to him… but up until recently he had shown a better sense of decorum. Edward wandered what was bothering the older man so much.

He sat down heavily, between Alphonse and Havoc, who was laughing at Breda who had gotten onto his desk trying to get away from Black Hayate who was trying to slobber on his face.

"Brother," Alphonse started, his voice was significantly deeper that it had been three years ago, he was beginning to _sound _like a man, "calm down? He's just stressed."

"What about?"

"Riza's been a little unwell recently and the higher ups are kinda breathing down his neck at the moment. There's a lot on his plate."

"Sick or pregnant?" asked Edward sceptically.

"According to Sheska she was admitted to hospital today."

Edward's eyes widened and he sat bolt up right looking around. Riza Hawkeye wasn't there… and he and Alphonse had arrived too late to see if the famous couple had arrived together. Now Edward thought about it… Mustang must have brought Black Hayate with him because of his emotional distress. Normally when Riza wasn't in, Black Hayate was left at home to keep her company. Probably for that same reason, he had brought the black dog with _him _that day. The blonde alchemist now felt bad about having ago at the pyromaniac.

"We'll visit her later," promised Alphonse, guessing his brother's sudden slump after sitting up so straight, "update her on what's going on here."

The rest of the day passed excruciatingly slowly. Mustang was in and out, like a restless father, scolding and complimenting in equal measure. No one was able to keep track of his mood from one moment to the next. Now he knew what was going on, Edward could see the worry clear as day. So could his comrades, all of them cutting their leader a lot of slack.

Havoc even let him take the micky out of him for his second attempt with Alexander Armstrong's young sister. Though Breda and Falman later revealed the scenario was fabricated to allow Mustang to be allowed to take the micky. Strangely, Havoc's luck with women since Mustang had married had increased. Though his male team mates muttered their suspicions as to why behind his back. Riza was top of their collective lists.

By the end of the day Edward and Al were exhausted. All either of them wanted to do was go home and sleep. At the same time, they both knew sleep would be impossible if they did not check on their friend.

The walked around to the hospital and were directed to Riza's room. The nurses were generally cheerful as they saw the Elric brothers walking through, both had been admitted more times than either cared to remember, so the staff there were accustomed to them walking around.

Soon they reached Riza's private room on the third floor. They knocked on the door, and upon hearing a soft "come in" the two entered, apprehensively.

Riza had her longish blonde hair falling about her shoulders, framing her unusually pale face. She was sitting up against her pillows, reading in the artificial light of the lamp by her bed side. The curtains were closed, letting no light in.

The room itself was simple. There was a curtained window opposite the door, a bed pushed up against the wall on the right as you walked in, and four plastic chairs next to the bed. Further down the room was a small coffee table and three more comfortable chairs, almost like a mock mini living room.

Riza looked up as the now young men stood in the door way.

"Hello, boys," she said kind heartedly, "what brings you here."

Edward flushed red, but walked in stubbornly. "We're worried about you," he heard the door click close softly as Alphonse followed him, "we all are." Edward sat beside her bed in one of the uncomfortable chairs and frowned at her face. "You feeling any better?"

She shook her head. "But we know what it is," she chuckled, her cheeks coloured a flat, dull pink, "food poisoning."

Edward breathed a small sigh of relief. Not fun, but easier to detect and cure. Though it did mean Riza would feeling generally horrible and unable to move.

"How's Roy?" she asked worriedly, "he didn't sleep last night, he was taking care of me."

"Bad mood," shrugged Alphonse, "to begin with, then mood swings. His usual reaction when he's worried. He'll perk up once they tell him what's going on."

"I know," sighed Riza, pushing her blonde hair away from her face tiredly, "I just wish he would not take his frustration out on everyone else. Speaking of which, how's Zarraq?"

"He's coping," sighed Edward, "he's still with Winry, but he's very quiet."

"It's like he's confused a lot of the time," added Alphonse, "we're not sure if it's from memories or just generally getting used to the fact that he doesn't know us but we know him."

"Mmm," agreed Riza quietly, "normally I'd recommend Peter Thorn, the military psychologist, he's very good, but I get the feeling that things will make more sense to the poor man once his sister comes home."

Edward gritted his teeth at the reference to Lucy. Her absence was becoming more and more of a strain on them all. Especially with her brother's amnesia. And none were allowed to tell him of his past until she came back. It was frustrating, irritating and annoyingly reasonable.

"I can't wait," said Alphonse, "I never got to tell her I got her father's old title. I hope she'll be happy."

"I'm sure she will, Al," Riza said gently, resting a hand on his head as though he were twelve again, she took it back, and pressed a hand to her forehead. "I get headaches when I can't eat," she explained, "and I'm not allowed to eat yet."

Which explained why the only light in the room came from her lamp.

Edward got up. "We'll let you rest, we just wanted to make sure you weren't dying or something," he said seriously, taking the hand she offered him, she squeezed his gently.

"Thank you," she told him.

"See you soon," Alphonse said more cheerfully, bending to accept her kiss to his forehead.

As the brother left, they caught sight of Riza returning to her book, quieter than either had ever seen her before.

"Think she'll be all right?" asked Alphonse as they closed the door behind them.

"Al, that's Riza Hawkeye, Mustang's right hand woman long before he married her, she'll be up and about waving her gun around same as ever soon."

"I hope so…" he said quietly.

Edward sighed and put an arm around his brother's neck as they walked away, neither said a word. That was until they had reached the entrance, at which point, Edward proceeded to curse fit to make a sailor blush.

"What is it, brother?" asked Alphonse, surprised.

"I've left my damned fuckin' watch at the library!"

"When did you go?"

"After lunch, I had to pick up a book."

Alphonse chuckled. "They'll have it- the library's still open."

Edward sighed and nodded. He just wanted to go home and go to sleep. But he couldn't do that either. Winry would kill him. They were due at her place in about an hour for dinner, she didn't trust either of them to eat, so she insisted on providing them a meal.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the library, as soon as they approached the desk, the stout black woman behind it grinned at them good naturedly.

"Well master Elric," she teased, "you've been a little scatter brained recently." She held up his watch, dangling it in front of his face.

Edward growled. "Verity, I'm under a lot of stress-"

"I know- Mustang walked in a while back looking as though he was about to blow this place up," Verity shook her head sadly, her black curls bouncing with the movement, "I almost has to ask him to leave, but he seemed to understand his own danger and left. He's a good man… awful temper."

"We call it pyromania," shrugged Edward taking the watch she held out for him.

Verity chuckled her whole hearted laugh. After a day of hard work, her loud infectious laugh was just what he needed, neither brother could help but grin in return. "All right, boys, get out, Winry's probably worried sick about you." The boys blanched and looked at each other. The librarian grinned wickedly, "go on, before I rat you out."

Smiling nervously the boys waved and left, Edward clutching his watch close to his body.

Outside the breeze was cool. It was nearing autumn, the trees were slowly turning browner, redder colours. It was a nice day. The sun was slowly dying, casting out rays of gold, pink, orange and red. The boys paused at the steps, admiring the view. Neither of them were aware of it, but both where wearing little smiles of satisfaction.

They walked down the stairs, not saying a word. Their close knit bond meant there was no need for words. They paused again at the steps. Looking up, around, at the city they had grown to call their home.

As they looked, Alphonse caught a glimpse of something in his peripheral vision. Frowning, he turned his attention to it.

It was a girl. She looked young. She was sitting on a suitcase looking up at the library. She wore jeans, a long sleeved hooded top, the hood was covering her head, her hair and put her face in shadow. She was resting her chin on her right fist. It was gloved. She was small, he could tell even from his distance. Small and slight.

As he stared at her, she seemed to feel her eyes on him. She stood, just as the breeze picked up. Her hood was pushed back a little, she caught it, and kept it in place. But not in time. He had caught sight of a glimmer of silver in her hair.

His eyes widened.

It wasn't, it couldn't have been…

He took a step foreword.

"Al?" came Edward's voice.

Alphonse wasn't listening. He walked toward the girl, slowly. He was trying to make up his mind. The girl stayed put, he couldn't see it, but he could feel her eyes on him… even through this opaque sunglasses.

"Lucy?" he whispered, getting nearer, "Lucy?"

Before he reached her, as Edward stood at the foot of the library, looking utterly confused, the girl called out.

"Al, come on- I know you can walk faster than that!"

Edward's attention snapped to the girl as well. He knew that voice. It had only been around for a few months, but he could have recognised that voice anywhere.

"I knew it was you!" crowed Alphonse, rushing toward her, ignoring the strange looks he was getting from the people around him, "I knew it!" He caught her up in his arms, hugging her tightly. After a moment and a short laugh, she hugged him back.

"Well… it's not like I could have stayed away," she told him quietly.


	4. Guess I’m Home

A/N: awh- no reviews this time :P Anyway- hope you guys enjoy the fourth chapter :)

Guess I'm Home

Edward was frozen to the spot. He didn't know what to say. Or what to do. Before him, Lucy and Alphonse stood talking rapidly, mostly about whether or not Lucy was in good health if her automail wasn't failing her, that sort of thing. Her absence of a year and what she had done to Fuller would come later.

"Brother come on!" complained Alphonse, "it's Lucy!"

"I know I know," he replied quietly, walking forwards cautiously, "I know…"

"I think he's a little stunned," Lucy joked feebly.

Up close they could see she had neglected to eat well in the past few days again, looking similar to how she had when she had first arrived. It was likely she hadn't eaten for a couple of days. She'd done it before. In saying that… her whole physic was stronger, more solid. She was still small and slightly, it was her powerful movements in her right arm and leg that gave it away. Finally her flesh and bone parts were on par with her automail parts.

Though Edward had to admit he was happy about it, at the same time… he was worried. What had forced her to become like that? What had she gone through?

She shifted uneasily under his gaze. He shook his head, and allowed his emotional state to take over. He could deal with those morbid and serious questions later. Right now… Lucy was back- she was home!

Without any warning he wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her close. He hid his face in the nape of her neck. Slowly, he felt her arms reach up and around his neck, hugging him back. It was strange… he almost felt like he was going to cry. She had been in their lives for one summer, and one summer only, and still she had been such a big part of it… he was so glad- so happy to see her. He never realised before he had strong emotions for her at all.

"Ed," came a whispered voice, "you're kinda… killing me."

Edward suddenly became aware of how hard he was holding her. He released her but didn't let her go. He looked down at her, studying her. She had allowed her sunglasses to slip down her nose to let him see those mismatched eyes. He smiled, pushing the sunglasses up her nose again then stepped back.

"If you were a guy," he said, "I'd have hit you by now."

Lucy blinked in surprise and glanced at Alphonse, who looked just as confused. Alphonse had been pleased with the fact that Edward had greeted Lucy so warmly, figured he really did consider her one of them. And then that?! It made no sense!

"Why?" she asked.

He blinked a couple of times. "Lucy- we haven't seen you in over three years. Apart from those letters you sent with Zarraq, which we didn't get until two months ago- we hadn't heard from you in a year! You little sister was going out of control, Mustang's been getting steadily more worried and do not get me started on-"

"I'm here now," she said, interrupting him.

"What?"

"I'm here now. I guess I'm home now," she smiled softly, not really looking at either of her, her eyes drifted to above their head, observing the town, "you can complain to me as much as you want, or you can tell me all the good things… I'm home and now I have the time to hear all of it."

As Alphonse put an arm around her shoulders and pressed his lips to her forehead, Edward begrudgingly decided… she was right. He could lecture her later. Now it was time to get her home, give her food and get her into bed. First stop- Winry's.

*

They arrived at Winry's not long later. Edward had been right, Lucy had not eaten in about two or three days, she couldn't remember, but she didn't feel all that bad. So Alphonse had grabbed her bag, and Edward had her arm linked with his and he was not about to let go.

"Winry!" called Alphonse, walking into the front door, "Zarraq!"

"Zarraq's at Gracia's!" called Winry, "she needed the car repaired!"

"You should hire him officially," laughed Edward.

Winry grinned as she came out from the back, oil staining her cheek as she cleaned off her spanner. Edward could not help but flinch at the sight of the weapon. As Winry stood there she realised there was someone else with the two brothers… Alphonse was carrying a suit case. She concentrated on the person Edward seemed to be supporting, and the person looked back at her. Her sunglasses were off, in her hands… gloved hands… her hood was down revealing the shock of silver. There was no mistaking her.

She said nothing, she let her actions take over. Dropping her spanner she launched herself across the room, straight at Lucy, separating her from her support (Edward- who was toppled back a little as well).

"When did you come home!" sobbed Winry, who was literally crying with joy, "why didn't you warn us?"

Lucy chuckled as she returned the embrace, stroking the long blonde hair, and smiling happily. "I just got home," she replied, "I met the boys at the library. I didn't warn you because I didn't have the time or the money."

"Oh I don't care, I don't care," she leaned away from the ha;f Ishballan woman, as if trying to get a better look at her, "you're so skinny… when was the last time you ate."

"A while ago," she admittedly, her cheeks flushing a little.

"You do this too often…" sighed Winry, she studied Lucy's face again before squealing and hugging her tightly. The sobs and gone, now the joy remained. "C'mon, I'll fix up up something to eat," she released Lucy, and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the stairway to the flat, "then I'll look over your automail- if you've messed it up-"

"I'm not Ed," she sighed.

"All right fair enough- can yo boys bring up the suit case?" Winry called over her shoulder, "and get Zarraq to come home- oh and make him bring Gracia and Elysia!" With that the door slammed closed leaving the two boys looking bewildered.

"Is it just me?" asked Edward, "or did this happen roughly the same as last time?"

"Mmmhmm…" Alphonse shrugged, "you called Gracia, I'll take this upstairs. I think Lucy's staying here tonight."

"I wouldn't be surprised," nodded Edward, heading over towards the phone.

Meanwhile upstairs, Winry was still chatting, telling Lucy off, asking a million questions, not giving her enough time to answer. She supplied the dark woman with food and drink, not really stopping to take a breath. Until Lucy interrupted her.

"Talk to him," she said simply.

"And the- what?" Winry had been in mid-flow.

"Whatever it's about… talk to him."

"Who?"

Lucy just looked at her. The sunglasses were off, resting on the table next to them, her gloves were beside them as she ate the sandwich in front of her.

Winry sighed and finally sat down. "What do I say?"

"I don't know," shrugged Lucy, "I don't know what the issues are."

"I don't know either!" she moaned, her head in her hands, "I love him… I think I do… I'm fairly sure I do… but he's keeping things from me. It's like he doesn't trust me!"

Lucy frowned. "Are you sure it's not the other way around?"

"What?"

"He doesn't trust himself I mean. What if he wants to tell you bust doesn't trust himself enough to speak. What if he's worried you've gotten bored of him or something."

Winry sat quietly for a moment, her fingers playing in her lap. Lucy simply returned to her sandwich. She knew what she was doing was right… but the strange thing was… she thought she was over her little crush on Edward. She'd been away for three years. At the same time, there had been a lot going on in those three years, she hadn't had the time for romance with another… and there she was again. In the same predicament as before. Liking a man that her friend did… a man who had no such feelings for her in return.

Trying to repair their relationship was the right thing to do. They were her friends before anything and everything else. There was no way she was going to jeopardise it. She would simply have to make herself move on. That should be easy enough.

"Maybe…" Winry said quietly. She looked up at Lucy who had finished off her sandwich looking very pleased with herself. "It's good to have you back Luce."

"It's good to be back," she said sincerely, "I mean I missed the travelling… but I like being able to say 'gotta go home now'. Anchored, you know?"

"Yeah," Winry smiled, "now! Dessert!"

"Oh oh oh do you have-"

"Yep."

"I mean the-"

"Yep."

Lucy positively squealed!

Edward and Alphonse entered the room in time to hear that. Alphonse had taken Lucy's back to Zarraq's room, not entirely sure where to put it. Edward had finished calling Zarraq and Gracia, not telling them why they were needed at Winry's. The brothers looked at each other confused. Especially when Winry produced a bowl of chocolate mousse, which seemed to be what Lucy had been getting excited about.

"Jeez I've never seen her like that," Edward said shaking his head.

"That's coz last time you were too busy investigating me," Lucy called over, before tucking into her favourite dessert.

Edward growled to himself. At least she was making a joke of it. He didn't feel as bad then.

As the brothers sat down, with the two girls, they were surprised to see that Lucy was almost finished. She set the bowl down grinning.

"Ah… you don't eat for a few days, you always appreciate food more."

"And you always make more of a mess," laughed Winry, handing her a paper towel.

"Yes there's that too," Lucy flushed a little as she wiped around her mouth. "now," she looked around at all of them, "I want updates of you lot. It's been three years since I've heard from you and it's only been one since you've heard from me- now go!"

They glanced at each other. They all knew they desperately wanted Lucy to tell them what she had been doing… what she had done with Fuller. But that could come later… they wouldn't want her to repeat it several times over. Maybe when she had rested, and everyone was there, they'd badger her about. A silent promise passed between the three of them, say nothing till later. No words needed to be said, they just knew that was the way it had to be.

Winry decided to go first. She told Lucy about how her automail eye had progressed, at the moment the one or two patients who possessed them could only see in black and white. And that was only after she had figured out how to measure the eye to be able to fit into the eye socket. It was different to how glass eyes worked, but that science helped her tremendously. So now her project was to figure out how to make the lens of the eyes be able to see in colour rather than monochromatic. Though she add, rather proudly, that even though it was only in black and white, the patients who had them were very pleased with what they had (she was just grateful that they were patients who had lost sight in both eyes but agreed to only have one automail eye put in as a test subject).

Next was Edward. He told her about his missions, his frustration with reports, and his defiance of refusing to take part in the ranks of the military. He had been offered higher statuses often, instead he was campaigning for alchemists to not be used in the military was much as soldiers if they did not wish to, and instead have their own ranks. He was compiling the idea with Sheska and Mustang, while the rest of the team were supporting him on it. He just had to finalise what the ranking system would be, talk to other alchemists within the military and apart of guilds and so forth before he presented the plan to the fürer.

Finally Alphonse. He told her of his exams, how much he studied for them, how he'd passed the written exam with flying colours, came out on top. How during the interview he was pleased to see that no one asked questions of his brother and appeared to consider him to be a completely separate entity to the Fullmetal Alchemist. He told her of the diplomatic missions he had been on, he suspected he had been sent on them rather than Edward was because he was younger, and much calmer (Edward of coarse made faces at this).

"So what title did you get?" asked Lucy eagerly.

"Uh-" Alphonse faltered. Now that he was able to tell her… he wasn't sure he wanted to. It was like he was taking her father's place… he was the first to get the title since Blake Fuller. He didn't want her to think that.

"Al?" she frowned, "c'mon- it can't be that embarrassing. I mean Ed got Fullmetal just because of his arm and leg."

"Shuddup! Everyone thought it was Al for ages because of that!" complained Edward.

"That's because you were a dwarf- I saw the pictures-"

"I WASN'T A DWARF WHO COULD FIT THROUGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE! WHY WOULD YOU EVEN-"

"She didn't say that," Winry said calmly, smacking the upside of Edward's head with a spanner, shutting him up quickly. He quietened down, rubbing the back of his skull, looking mutinous.

Lucy's attention had returned to Alphonse, who was gathering the courage to tell her.

"I'm… the Azure Alchemist," he said finally.

There was a moment's quiet. Winry and Edward finally realised why Alphonse had been stalling.

"That's…" Lucy was blinking in surprise, Alphonse wasn't looking at her, so he missed the grin spreading across her face, "that's brilliant!" She threw her arms around Alphonse hugging him tightly, "that's amazing! It's been ages since there was an Azure Alchemist and I certain dad would be bloody happy to know that an alchemist like you got it!" She released him. "Even if it means someone like you had to become a dog of the military to get it."

Alphonse made a face. "I guess… you take brother's point of view on this don't you?"

"Kinda," she shrugged, sitting down again, "but that's just coz I don't like the military… they ain't been too good to me in the past."

"True," nodded Alphonse, "but st-"

"Winry!" Zarraq's voice called up the stairs, "what's goin' on? Ed called sayin' to come home!"

Lucy was up on her feet, her face a strange mixture of apprehension and happiness.

"Just come here," called Winry, "honestly- don't be so rude to your boss."

The door finally opened and in trouped Zarraq, Elysia and Gracia. Elysia had a hold of Zarraq's hand.

"So?" asked Gracia, "what's-"

She caught sight of Lucy. Lucy couldn't move. But it was Elysia who got there first.

"Big sister!" she squealed and ran straight at Lucy, engulfing her in a tight embrace, Lucy laughed as she returned it, "you're in big trouble- why didn't come back with Zaraq-uncle-"

"Big brother!" Zarraq complained, "I'm Tash's big brother!"

"Ten years my senior," Lucy reminded him, calmly, grinning, with her arm around the younger girl, "in her eyes- you're a old enough to be an uncle."

Zarraq made a face, and strode forewords, embracing his sister warmly.

Edward looking suspiciously. He had been mildly worried about the siblings reunion. As he watched them, he realised there was no reason to be. Zarraq had genuinely lost all his memories, and yet Lucy was the only person who seemed to have lingered in his mind. That had to mean something.

As Gracia walked forewords, greeting her long long adoptive daughter, telling her off as she did so, Edward realised Zarraq had relied on Lucy immensely. She was his only link to a past he no longer had. He still has his hand on her shoulder, as though he were worried she'd disappear again.

Both Edward and Winry held back as her family pulled her over to the sofa to interrogate her on her health, her journey home and her general well-being. Like Alphonse, Winry and Edward earlier, none wished to ask her of what happened between herself and Fuller. They almost did not want to ask.

"Wow…" murmured Winry.

"Mmm?" asked Edward.

"We're back to normal again… aren't we?" she looked up at him, smiling, "feels weird… I like it."

Edward chuckled, putting his arm around her, pulling her close. "Yeah… guess life would have been too strange without those two here."

Winry leaned on his chest for a moment. Edward was tempted to lean in to kiss her, though he held back. It was not the time, not with everyone there. He released her as she made her way forewords to join the crowd of people. He held back again… just for a moment. His eyes lingered on the pretty blonde before he transferred his attention to the half Ishballan girl in the centre of attention.

It was strange. Her face was gaunt, the lack of food helped with that effect, but it was different this time. Her presence was different, more affecting. Before she'd walk into a room and try not to be noticed, now all eyes seemed drawn to her, the evidence of that was when Gracia walked in. Before someone would take a while before they took much notice of her, now it was immediate. She was no prettier or uglier, she was still just Lucy… and yet- there was still something different about her.

As if she felt his eyes on her, Lucy looked up.

"C'mon Ed- don't stand there," she told him, grinning, "you look lost."

He shook his head and strode forewords. "Maybe I am," he told her, taking his place on the arm of the sofa, "how would you know?"

She shrugged. "I wouldn't, I'm guessing."

"Big sister!" started up Elysia, "you have to pick me up from school soon! No one believes me that my big sister went travelling- they all said that you died in the bombing."

For a moment, Lucy's face became over shadowed. Gracia noticed it almost immediately. Before anyone could intervene, she brightened again.

"Ha!" she crowed, "we'll show them." She grinned wickedly. "Hey Ellie, no more fights all right?"

"Huh?" the little girl flushed red, "what… you…"

"Sweetie, you have a cut on your lip," chuckled Lucy, ruffling her hair, "and you're side hurts." She winked. "I've been in enough fights to know the signs."

Elysia mocked irritation, crossing her arms causing Lucy to laugh harder, hugging the little girl closer to her, kissing her head.

Gracia looked on fondly. Her big girl was home. She had everyone she could back again. She looked on at Edward teasing Tash, Winry telling him off for it. Elysia's upper body was cradled in Tash's arms while Zarraq kept as near to her as possible. Curious as ever, Alphonse kept asking questions about the places she went to, as Tash happily supplied him with answers and stories.

'She's back,' she thought contentedly, 'she's home and she's safe.'

*

Later that night Lucy found herself awake. It was dark, the lights were out, and the stars and moon were covered by a blanket of cloud. It was nearing winter, that was hardly surprising.

She sat up, right hand to her forehead. Beside her, Winry shifted in her sleep, trying to take more of the blanket. Lucy chuckled and leaned over to tuck her in more firmly.

Gracia and Elysia had left, saying that Lucy was to move in with them the next night, just then they were all too tired to shift her bags. Zarraq went to sleep in his own room, though he was almost unwilling to let his sister go. It took a promise in Ishballan to calm him down that Lucy wasn't about to go anywhere. Meanwhile, Edward and Alphonse dropped off in the living room and neither Winry or Lucy were prepared to wake them. As a result, just like before, Lucy and Winry shared her bed to sleep in.

Lucy stayed still for a moment, then stood up, as quietly as possible. She needed a drink. She glanced down at her attire, she had managed to steal a big t-shirt of Winry, that was about it. She shrugged it off, if the boys were awake, it would hardly matter really. They weren't rapists.

She padded out of the room as quietly possible, closing the door almost silently. She managed to creep across the living room to the kitchen without waking anyone. The problem was pouring out some water from the tap without making too much noise.

As she stood by the sink frowning at it she heard-

"You know, you don't have to put the tap on full blast."

She clutched the cup to her chest and spun round.

Standing in his boxers, his long blonde hair about his shoulders, blinking his golden eyes in the half light looking more asleep than awake stood Edward. Lucy was not surprised to see that he had kept his body in shape more than ever.

"You bastard!" she hissed, "you gave me a heart attack!"

He chuckled and walked forewords, taking the glass away from her hands and only just turning on the tap to fill it up,

"Honestly, you would have thought someone like you could have figured that out."

"Shuddup pip-squeak," muttered Lucy, leaning against the counter.

Edward felt his jaw lock, but he said nothing. He didn't want to wake anyone up. Besides he was mature enough not to want revenge… he was definitely old enough… right?

"Pip-squeak?" he turned the tap off, then turned to Lucy. He smirked to himself before stand in front of her, all too close, looking down at her. She was tiny. She looked fragile. Appearances were deceiving. "I'm a pip-squeak."

"You were," she shrugged, looking up at him, poking her tongue out at him, "can I have my water please?"

"Sure." He lifted the glass towards her. Jerked it at her, slashing about half of it all over her face and t-shirt.

Lucy gasped and tried not to scream. The water was ice cold. She bit her tongue, literally, eyes closed, snatching the glass off him. He stepped away from her, sitting on one of the chairs, giggling to himself. The look on her face was priceless!

Finally over the initial shock, and very grateful for the lack of light (the t-shirt was white, and she was a dark girl), Lucy looked between her the glass in her hand and the shaking figure of Edward.

Without thinking twice she walked foreword and stood in front of him.

"Wha-"

She tipped the water over his hair and into face. She smiled angelically. "Just that," she blew a kiss at him, and returned to the tap to get the glass of what she had wanted.

Edward sat there fighting, at first the urge the shout because it was so cold and secondly the urge to laugh. This was the Lucy he'd always wanted to get to know. Her playful side. How she took a joke, how she responded to it. He liked it- she was fun! It was about time he took the time to appreciate a friend he might never have had.

As she tipped the water into her mouth and down her throat, Edward got up and wrapped his arms around her waist, his head on her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

Lucy tensed up. The close approximation previously was nothing. This was different.

"What for?" she asked, trying to ignore her own reactions.

Edward released her, but stayed close. "For how I treated you before… like an investigation- not a person."

"I was an investigation-"

"You were one of us."

"Mmm…" she sighed, then turned around, "can I go back to bed?"

"Uh… yeah sure." He took his arms away from her sides, and stepped away. As she moved out of the kitchen, he remembered something. "Hey Lucy."

She stopped and turned around. "Yeah?"

"What you said in the first letter… before you left… it was true right? Gracia wasn't just guessing?"

She hesitated then nodded. "Yeah it was true. I knew auntie would tell."

"Is it still?"

She hesitated again, the sighed. "Goodnight Ed." She left and before Edward could say another word, he heard the door of Winry's room slam shut.

He scowled. He didn't even know what that meant!

He sighed. Well… she might have been back… she might have made things feel like they fell into place… but hell did she make everything suddenly seem more complicated.

*

They were grateful for the over cast moon. It mean they could get into the city undetected. That was imperative. It would have been impossible for them to come into Central in broad daylight, bold as brass.

The only sound to alert anyone to what was going on was the small splashes they made as they rowed into town. Though at that time of night, no one was going to pay much attention to it.

Soon they found themselves at the abandoned ruins of an old Ishballan refugee camp under the city. They climbed out of their little dingy and pulled it ashore.

A tall, built man looked around, his normally hardy expression had softened as he looked around. He had memories of that place. Found ones. Even if they had been forced there after another attempted massacre of his people.

His red eyes hardened again, and he lifted a big hand to his face, replacing his sunglasses.

"All right, fan out, we need to fix up a big enough tent for the lot of us," he turned to look at his group. Four other men and two women, "go!"

The two women took off together. One was a Xing woman, slimly built, angled eyes, small, lithe. She was intelligent and not afraid to show it. The other was an Ishballan woman. Tall, slender and clearly muscular. She too wore sunglasses over red eyes. She unlike her Xing sister, was unable to speak even if she did have an opinion. She had no tongue.

The four men split into two group, leaving their leader behind as a central point to meet.

One of the men was the leader's brother, another Ishballan man. He was smaller in build, significantly shorter, and less muscled. He was more of the brains of their operation, less muscle. But like his brother, his black hair was in a crew cut. His partner was a Drachman man. Tall, built, black hair and blue eyes. He had fair skin. He was a charmer. Clever. With contacts that no one wanted to think about.

The other pair were twin brothers, from Xing. The two were completely identical, it was almost impossible to tell them apart. They were slim, medium height, with high cheek bones, angled eyes fair skin and black hair. They were mechanics, and well known for it back where they had come from.

They separated for an hour, then returned to the central spot, where their leader waited. The Xing woman had found a large tent, half fallen down but in good condition, and continued to lead them back there. The men had collected any items needed to rebuild a whole new accommodation for them.

It took them a further hour, with very little talking, to complete the tent. By the end of it they had separate living quarters for the men and the women, with the space in the middle to live together in.

When completed the other six of the group turned to their leader for instruction.

"Get to bed," he told them, grinning, "we've got a lot of work to do. We have our head quarters now, but we have to get used to this place, integrate ourselves…"


	5. Crystal Clear?

A/N: Hehe XD Reviews make me happy! Thanks guys! Yep Corn-dono and I think she's here to stay ;) for a while anyway… Thanks ubergrif500 :) Nuh uhuh! Don't get ahead of yourself now :P Oh no that's all right- I'm glad your knees almost better! Though… is it better now? I haven't updated for a bit =P Oh yeah, thanks ^____^ I like this one better than 'So Kiss Me Goodbye'… but they both work :)

Anyway! I hope you guys enjoy chapter five! I have a bad feeling it's going to be the last chapter for a while, I've got a mock exam tomorrow so I haven't been writing much recently. Please forgive me! And wish me luck! I'm going to need it =____=''

Enjoy folks!!

Crystal Clear?

A further two months passed, they were pushed well into the winter months. There were only a few hours between sun rise and sun set. While the others were used to it, Lucy became agitated.

Over that time, Lucy had reintegrated herself amongst her family. She now lived with Elysia and Gracia on a permanent basis, but Zarraq had yet to move in with them. She was still searching for a job after a series of bad luck, mostly to do with the fact that she refused to take off her sunglasses and still only gave her pseudo name.

Meanwhile she had come to know Edward's other family, the work side of things. Mustang quickly made it clear that Lucy was to be treated with the utmost respect- which went without saying considering who her father and uncle were. She was often seen hanging around the office, often helping out with things that generally needed doing.

Riza had gotten over her illness soon enough, but Edward could not help but think that she looked weaker since coming back to work. Though she stayed as trigger friendly and violent as ever. Black Hayate had retained his sort of fear love emotions for his mistress- something Mustang had never been able to gain from him.

Zarraq on the other hand was far more of a problem. Winry had now officially hired him as help, considering how good he was with his hands and his agile mind when it came to machines, it was unsurprising. It was the fact that Lucy still refused to tell him of his past. When ever questioned she'd say "some other day, I'm busy", no matter what she was doing. It worried those around her. When they saw the siblings together, no one could doubt their strong bond… so why was she keep secrets from him? About his own life?

While all this was happening, with Lucy and Zarraq, anyone would have thought that Winry and Edward's relationship could have gotten stronger. Lucy was doing everything in her power to make it work, stop the arguments, make them talk to each other. Nothing was working. Though Winry tried her hardest to think the way Lucy had told her, it was becoming harder and harder as the arguments escalated. It wasn't that the arguments were more often, it was that when they happened, they got bigger.

One morning, after another argument between the couple, after Edward stormed out calling a few of his colleagues for a drink, Lucy sat in the shop looking bored. She was surrounded but scrap metal, she was dying to put something together. She managed to refrain from doing so. Winry would have killed her… literally she was in such a bad mood.

The door opened, she ignored it, replacing her sunglasses and putting on her gloves. She stared at the wall beside her, almost pouting with boredom.

"Excuse me?" came a familiar voice.

She looked up, then sat up grinning. "Vato! Watcha doing here?"

"Playing messenger," he sighed, "Winry about?"

"Yeah… but it wouldn't go near her yet…" she made a face, "she almost bite Zarraq's head off this morning when the toast was a little over done."

Falman grimaced. "Ah yes well… mind taking over being messenger for me?"

"Sure," beamed Lucy. She liked Falman, he was always pleasant to her, though he thought she was much younger when she first arrived back in the city. Once he figured out she was in her twenties, he always found the time to discuss things with her and was delighted to find she had a mind as well.

"Edward kinda… passed out with us yesterday, he was meant to go out with her for lunch, he said if he's late, he's really sorry."

"Humm… I get the feeling lunch is going to be cancelled anyway."

"So do I," he glanced around, "what are you doing here anyway?"

"Watching the shop while Win tears up the flat," she responded dryly, "I'm dying to make things, but that will just piss her off."

"Oh," Falman chuckled, "you not job hunting?"

"It's FREEZING out there!" she complained, "I mean look at you in your winter uniform- you're warm… I go out there I feel like I'm dying!" she paused… "I'm going out in an hour or so… I've got an interview."

"You're not going back to Charlotte's?"

She shook her head, her face a picture of despair. "I couldn't… It was my fault what happened there. I mean… Harry died and Maria's moved away. I don't think I could face it again." She brightened again, this time it was forced. "I'll find something!"

"Why don't you come work for us?"

The smile dropped. "What?"

"Not the military," he laughed nervously, she'd never work for the military, that much was certain, "for us, for Mustang."

"What would I do?"

"I dunno… he'd find something."

"I think I'll pass…"

Falman frowned. "What interview is this job for?"

"Waitressing slash looking after a shop- easiest thing I can find. But I don't think I'll get it. They usually like short skirts and all limbs," she held up her left arm, "heh…"

He sighed heavily, "Luce… you're an Alchemist, why not… I dunno, get a job as a researcher or as an assistant. You've got the brains for it-"

"Not the qualifications," she told him quietly, "everything I know is from books and copying. I've had not official teaching- I'm never going to get a job like that. Besides, I've got no idea how to put up with superiors… in restaurants it doesn't work that way- not with ranks and shit."

"Stubborn little shit," he grumbled, at her, "all right, your choice- don't say I didn't warn ya."

"Yeah yeah, get back to work, and drag Ed outta bed."

Falman waved as he left, flicking up his collar to protect himself against the wind. Lucy watched him leave then decided to try and put things together.

*

Edward rolled over. His head hurt like hell. He groaned and sat up. In the living room, Alphonse was talking to stocky, scruffy Heymans Breda. Both of whom were looking rather disgruntled.

"What the hell…" Edward dragged himself to a sitting position, "what happened last night?"

The two males looked at Edward and sighed.

"Got drunk, got into a fight, with a big guy, because he called you short, then passed out after you knocked him out," summarised Breda, tiredly.

"That was is?"

"More or less," shrugged Alphonse, glancing at Breda.

"I didn't say anything weird?"

"You mean apart from one minute 'she's an ungrateful cow', the next 'I can't live without her!' Then finally 'oh she's hot'?" asked Breda, raising his eyebrows at his young friend.

Edward groaned. Not a good day. Not a good start to the day. "I told someone to tell Lucy I'll be late for lunch, right?" he moaned

"Lucy? Don't you mean Winry?" Alphonse was confused.

"No Lucy," Edward insisted, "anyone else tells Winry… she'll kill them herself."

"Ah…" Breda made a face, "Falman assumed you meant Winry…"

"I hope he saw Lucy first," grumbled Edward. He stood up, swaying for a moment, before clunking into the living room, over to the counter and turned on the kettle. "I need caffeine."

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed both the two behind him exchanging glances. He half wandered if he had really done something stupid the night before. He would not have been surprised. The arguments between himself and Winry had been escalating since Lucy had come home. Not that he blamed her of coarse. He couldn't. She had nothing to do with the arguments…

His mind wandered back to that first night she was back. The first time he had seen her relaxed and fun with him around, still keeping the curt, sharp sarcasm had had used with him. Only it was more playful- he loved it. He always knew there was that side of her too, he'd seen it. It was just nice that she showed him that as well. It was what she had neglected to answer that bothered him. It played on his mind. Not whether or not he should tell Winry… it was how should he react. Though she never seemed to act on it. She treated him the same just as anyone else. She at least appeared comfortable with him. Trusting of him.

Was it that? The confusion of Lucy that was making him argue? Or was it…

"Kettle's boiled!" called Breda, pulling on his jacket, "and you've got a mission tonight, local, so get in for a briefing all right?"

"After lunch…" Edward mumbled, "I'm dying."

"You'll be dead if you don't get there in time," Alphonse reminded him."

"Yeah yeah…"

Edward took two tea spoons of instant coffee granules into the mug as Breda shut the door behind him, and poured the boiling water over them. Instead of adding milk like he always did, he drank the scalding liquid down fast; to wake himself up.

He'd need to be awake to face Winry… to be able to make up with her coherently anyway. That was going to be difficult.

*

Lucy never saw Winry leave. She did give her the message, but she never actually saw her leave. Zarraq did, he didn't look to happy about it either.

"Why does she put up with him?" he asked, grumpily, "all he does is make her angry."

"It's love, brother, you know it makes people do silly things," sighed Lucy, "those two might argue, but they love each other. They'll make it work."

"I almost hope they don't… all the shouting… seriously, Tash, it's driving me mad…"

Lucy looked up from her attempted alchemy. She was trying to make a metal daisy out of scraps, without using alchemy. It wasn't going very well.

Zarraq was frowning at an engine, trying to figure out how to make it better. He'd fixed it, now he was fine tuning it.

"Zarraq…" she said slowly, sitting up, "have you…"

He turned around, frowning. "What?"

Lucy grinned. "You like her don't you?"

"Like who?"

"Winry, duh."

He scowled and turned his back on her. "No I do not. She's a good friend who's given me a job and a place to stay."

"Yes yes you're grateful… you still like her- a lot. I can tell."

"You can tell… Tash that's rubbish- I don't like her."

"Then look at me and say it."

"Don't be so childish."

"That just means you can't do it."

"I'm not playing this game with you."

"I am!"

"Tash seriously there's nothing-"

"Ok fine… jeez… don't get to up tight…"

She loved teasing her brother. Even before he lost his memories, she loved teasing him. As she looked at him, trying not to loose his temper with her, she realised how little he had changed after his amnesia. He was significantly more innocent and naive, there was still something about him that was the same. The way he could never really fight back against her and complained about her teasing. His dry humour, his inability to have a superior, his irritation when faced with prejudice. That was all the same.

So why couldn't she give him back his memories?

Even she couldn't answer that one… even to herself.

"Fuck it!" she announced, angrily, "I'm doing this the easy way!" She took off her black gloves, clapped her hands together, feeling the two symbols meet and the energy spread. She put her hands on the metal pieces and concentrated on the hard.

A moment later she was holding a perfect replica of a daisy, in metal, between her fingers.

"You shouldn't give up so easily," called Zarraq sounding pleased before pulling himself under the engine, and began tinkering with it (Lucy half suspected he was just banging the metal to make noises).

"Awh shuddup mechanic- just coz you can't do what I am."

"Big deal, alchemist!"

The two siblings laughed happily. A time of peace… it was perfect.

*

In the restaurant, Winry sat, her finger's tapping. She knew Edward was going to be late, it still annoyed her. It got worse when he more or less stumbled in, wearing sunglasses and looking a mess.

"What the hell did you do last night?" she demanded.

"Didn't Vato tell you?" he asked tiredly, sitting down, his fingers at his temples.

"No, I got the message off Lucy."

Edward had to remember to thank Lucy for getting to Falman before Winry did. Otherwise life would have been significantly harder. "What did she say?"

"That you were out till late, moping, even if it was your own fault-"

"Don't start that again," groaned Edward.

"Your own fault," she pressed on, "had a few drinks and came home quite late."

Edward was grateful for the glasses. Now either Falman didn't tell Lucy about his… catastrophic night out, or Lucy had cut it down significantly. Either way, he had to thank one of them.

"Well there you go," he snapped, "this is what I get for staying out late for once!"

"Don't you try that with me- you've been doing it a lot recently. Though apparently last night was the first night you didn't get completely wasted! Though I couldn't tell from looking at you."

Around them other customers were trying desperately hard not to watch them. It was very difficult. It was like a car wreck- you shouldn't look, but curiosity got the better of them. Though no one could tell if it was a relationship ending or just a simple rough patch. That was part of the mystery and part of the reason why so many people could not help but listen in. Males mostly… the females they were with were trying hard to get them to pat attention to them.

"We should have cancelled today," grumbled Edward, "if I knew you were going to be in such a foul- there's no point-"

"No! This is the first time in ages we've been able to spend time together," she snapped at him.

"And we're still arguing!"

"Because you won't fuckin' talk to me!"

That shut him up. He stared at her, and finally took off the glasses. He studied her face. When at first he had thought she was simply angry. As he looked at her he realised she was shaking, her eyes were glossy and her lip was wobbling even as she tried to purse them together. She was angry, there was no denying that, she was also about to cry.

"What do you mean…?" he asked slowly.

"I… I mean you keeping secrets from me."

"Secre- I'm not keeping anything from you," he insisted.

"But-"

The waiter arrived, carrying their food. Winry had ordered for them before he had arrived. As she thanked him, Edward consoled himself. He wasn't keeping anything from her, not any secrets that were his own. He was keeping Lucy's secret, that she was never going to act on anyway. Even if he wasn't with Winry. He knew that. He wasn't lying to her. That was the only thing he hadn't told her, and it was the only thing he had no place to tell her. Besides- he didn't feel the same way about Lucy and she accepted that. He knew that.

"Winry," he said as she took a mouthful of her… food (he thought it was pasta, he wasn't sure), "is that why you've been so distant recently?"

She swallowed her mouthful and nodded. "Yes… I mean… if just felt like you're keeping things from me… important things.

"But I'm not, Win, that's ridiculous," sighed Edward, "why would I do that? I love you- I told you that… right at the beginning. Maybe that was a bad move, it doesn't stop it from being true. So how could I keep anything from you."

Winry shook her head sighing. "I don't know… it felt like you were. You wouldn't tell me things till much later, I always felt like I was the last person to know… even your work, I don't know anything about it!"

Edward laughed and took her head. "That's because it's gotten boring recently. It's a good thing really, means there's peace, and lots of it. Right now, all I've got it protection missions and showing off ones. Al seems to keep taking the diplomatic ones."

"That's because he's got a better temper."

He laughed, he couldn't help it.

The other customers around them began to loose interest. They were making up now, it had gotten boring. Though neither side of the couple were aware of it.

"Yeah I guess…" he sighed, "was that all that was bothering you?"

"Well… yeah… I mean Luce tried her best to make me see that I was just being paranoid… I suppose… I was now…"

'Lucy… I owe you… so much!' Edward thought desperately. The woman was a better person than he had originally thought.

He raised Winry's hand to his lips and kissed her fingers softly. He could feel the calluses on her finger tips. He loved that about her… how she didn't care… how much she loved her work… she looked stunning, even now, dressed up, you could tell who she was and what she did.

"Now that's out of the way," he said softly, "maybe we can go back to being in a relationship… not opposing debate teams."

It was her turn to laugh. She grinned at him coyly. "And maybe we can head back to mine after lunch…"

"What f- oh," his turn to grin, "I like the sound of that."

It took all his self control to eat his steak at a normal pace. What was worse, Winry knew it.

*

"I'll be back later!" called Lucy into Winry's shop.

Edward and Winry had just gotten back. They hadn't even paused to say hello to the two in the shop, Winry just shouted that Zarraq was in charge before the two went running up the stairs.

Lucy had grinned to herself shaking her head, before looking at the clock and almost jumping out of her skin and running out the door.

"See you," replied Zarraq, dryly.

Lucy knew that voice, he wasn't happy. Jealous more like. Even if he would not admit it to himself.

She hurried away from from his shop, pulling her jacket around her shoulders tightly. She was freezing. She wasn't made for the cold.

As she muttered to herself darkly, she didn't see a figure walking just ahead of her, not all the quickly. She walked straight into them, causing her to fall backwards into the snow, and immediately jump back up again, cursing quite loudly in a combination of Ishballan and Armestrian. She didn't like snow.

The figure turned around, looking surprised. It was Jean Havoc, tall, sandy haired, with a cigarette between his lips. Lucy had yet to notice.

"Uh… Lucy? You feeling ok?"

"No I fu-" she cut herself off and grinned, "Jean! I didn't realise it was you."

He chuckled. "Where you off to in such a hurry."

"Job interview," she shrugged, "not likely to get it, but hell, might as well try."

"Awh come on, why not?"

"They like short skirts and all limbs," she grumbled, "had an interview earlier for the same thing, difference, this one's a shop."

"What sort?"

"Cake shop."

"Cake," his face lit up, "mind if I walk you.?"

She smiled, "not at all."

He offered her his arm, which she took hesitantly. She was never sure what the whole arm thing meant, but she went a long with it.

"Actually?" she asked, "you mind giving me a light?"

"Don't see-" he looked at her startled. She had already put a cigarette between her lips, looking up at him innocently. He shook his head. "Do the others know you smoke?"

"Yeah," she shrugged, "they don't like it, but you know."

He chuckled as he passed her the lighter, "never had you down as a smoker really."

"Why not?" her voice was muffled as she lit up.

"Guess it's because you do look kinda…"

"Young?" she took a drag from the cigarette and blew it out, "short? Ishballan?"

"Ishballan?"

"Yeah, Ishballans are taught to avoid cigarettes and alcohol," she laughed as she took another drag, "somethings just don't work like that."

"You being one of them."

She winked at him, let go of his arm and stretched. "I guess. Ah man… seriously, you don't have one of these babies for a while," she held up the white stick, "ya really feel it."

Havoc shook his head. "You're not anything like I expected you know."

"Expected?"

"Yeah- Maes used to talk about you loads, I remember. Sweet girl with an opinion. I didn't think he meant loud as well."

"Kinda what you get, sweetheart, I'm not what most people expect."

He grinned at her. Ever since he had been a young man, in the army he had heard about her. He guessed he was about ten years or so older than her, so he must have started hearing about her ever since she was about six or seven. He knew she was older than she looked, she was beginning to look about eighteen or nineteen, clearly that was her most recent travels. He guessed her to be in her twenties.

"Hey, Luce, how old are you?" he asked, almost hesitantly.

"Twenty two," she sighed, "I know, I look a lot younger."

Havoc blanched. "Yeah… yeah you do…"

Make that fourteen years difference.

"Here we are," Lucy stopped outside the shop and looked in, "nice place, right?"

He shook the surprise off himself (half wandering why he was so shocked), and looked in. It did look like a nice place. It was a coffee shop come patisserie. It was quaint. Didn't really suit Lucy that well.

"Listen," he started, just as she moved to open the door.

"Yeah?"

"What… what would you say to working with us? You know… as a secretary, something like that. We can put your brain to use. I mean- you an alchemist who uses circles on her pa-"

"You know," she interrupted, "Vato gave me the same offer.

"He… did?"

"Yeah. Told me to be a researcher," she grinned, "ask him what I told him. Believe me, these kinda jobs are the only things I will ever do. And I don't mind. My alchemy is for me, no one else."

He chuckled, and put a hand on her shoulder. "The offer is always there, you know that right?"

"Yeah I do… want to come in?"

Glancing at his watch he nodded. "Go on then."

She hesitated. "Do you need to be somewhere?"

In the back of his mind Havoc knew the date he had planned would have good results… physically anyway. For some reason, he decided against that. Instead he decided to be there for Lucy. She was after all one of them, and Mustang's niece.

"Nah not really," he grinned, "I'll treat you afterwards all right? I know how nerve wracking interview are."

She stared up at him. She didn't know him fantastically well, they had spoken and gotten on. And here he was walking her to the shop, offering to treat her, he was a good guy. Without thinking she pulled him into a hug. "Thank you!" she said cheerfully, letting him go and walking in.

Havoc stood for a few seconds stunned. He hadn't been expecting that. Coughing, and straightening his clothes, he walked in after her, trying to fight down the blush creeping into his cheeks. Yeah… she was a sweet girl.

Inside, she spoke to the girl behind the counter and was ushered into the back room. Meanwhile Havoc took his place in waiting for her, and order a coffee, lighting up another cigarette. The waitress who served him made a face at the smell, though she said nothing.

"Is there anything else you would like?"

Havoc looked up at her. She was a sweet girl, but again several years his junior. Probably about Lucy's age. He was starting to feel old.

"Uh… any kind of chocolate cake, why don't you surprise me?" he smiled at her and winked.

She giggled and walked off, her tray pressed to her chest.

Despite having had an adverse reaction to the smoke, she still seemed charmed by him. Havoc did have to admit, age did good things for him, women paid him more attention than they used to, and he was significantly more confident around them.

When she returned to put a large piece of chocolate cheese cake before him.

"I-is that your girlfriend you walked in with?" she asked shyly.

"What? Lucy?" he smiled and shook his head, "no no, she's a good friend of mine, here for the interview. She's a great girl, I hope she gets it."

"Awh you're waiting for her to get out?"

"Yeah, promised I'd treat her, though the other's have warned me she does eat a lot, and she can take her drink."

The girl giggled. "You're a lovely friend," she said happily.

"Ah well, you have to treat women as if they're princesses, whether they are simply friends or," he paused, smiling, "or otherwise."

A blush flushed her face as she looked away.

'Still got it,' he thought mildly, even if she was too young, flirting was harmless.

*

She walked into a waiting room above the cafe come shop. Apparently their office was above there as well. It was a tightly run business, which is why it had become successful in such a short space of time. Lucy had done her research when she had been called for an interview.

In the waiting room, she found herself looking back a room full of Armestrians. Her heart sank. Even in the shop there were only Armestrian people working. She refused to take off her glasses and gloves as well as wearing short sleeves or skirts. Now she felt more isolated than ever.

She knew she shouldn't, she shouldn't assume that they would be prejudice against her because of her background. It was still had not to feel like that. She had been treated badly for far too long think positively in such a situation.

Taking a seat towards the back, Lucy observed behind the cover of her opaque glasses, the others in that room. There were two women. One was fair skinned, with light brown curled hair, with a slim, hourglass figure; ample bosom, widish hips and a tiny waist. She sat staring into a mirror trying to touch up her make up, battering her eyelashes at the glass, pouting.

The woman beside her seemed to be leaning as far away from her as was physically possible without being that noticeable to an observer.

This was when Lucy perked up. The woman was shorter, probably about her own height. She was slender, with poker straight black hair, angled black eyes and fair skin with a slight yellowish hue. It was unmistakable, especially to one like Lucy- she was from Xing.

Excited Lucy moved on to watch the four men in the room. All but one were from Armestris. The man was tall, stocky, again he had black hair, but it was wavy, and his eyes were skin blue, while his complexion was very pale. Again the features were so obvious to Lucy, as to anyone else, the man was from Drachma, though probably more from the northern regions, where it was significantly colder.

Lucy settled back again. She felt a little better now. There were others from other places, she didn't feel as isolated. Maybe the owners weren't so single minded as Lucy had first thought.

The door opened. Two people stepped out, a man and woman. The man was tall, built like a builder, heavy, muscular, but slowly fading with age. He was still tall, well over six foot. His chestnut brown hair was fading into grey while his beard now and a salt and pepper effect. The woman was smaller, plump, with rosy cheeks and a pleasant face. Her hair was blonde fading to grey, with hazel eyes. Lucy noticed that they both wore golden bands on their left ring finger. Married?

"Thank you all for coming," said the man, his voice was deep, pleasant, "I am Adam James, and this is my wife, Sandra James, we founded this shop."

There came a murmur of greeting from the applicants that Lucy did not join in with. She was too busy studying them. Their interactions with each other. The man was speaking, Adam, while the wife stood and watched them all. Probably sizing them all up. Lucy could not help but smile, this woman, this Sandra James was clearly the one in charge, she wore the trousers in the relationship and they both knew it. Though not necessarily the rest of the world did.

She felt the woman's eyes land on her, and immediately focused on what Adam James was saying.

"So I'll be talking to the boys, while my wife here will be talking to the girls," he smiled pleasantly. The other applicants tittered. Lucy simply tried not to look confused and tried not to smile smugly.

"I'll be taking Wendla Sailsbury first please," said Sandra James, her voice was soft, sweet, at the same time, Lucy sensed a steeliness there.

"And I'll be talking to… Collin Mitchell," Adam James said, cheerfully.

The pouting woman got to her feet. She wore tight fitting jeans, a tight top and a leader jacket lay over her arm. She followed Sandra into one room.

A teenaged boy, about eighteen or nineteen, lanky, not quite grown into his frame yet followed Adam James.

Lucy fidgeted as she waited. She couldn't help it. She wasn't nervous, just agitated. She didn't like staying still for long. It never did her any good. To her right, she couldn't help but notice that the Drachman kept glancing at her, sometimes the white streak in her hair, but mostly at her face. She tried to pretend she couldn't notice it.

After a few minutes, Lucy had half decided to confront him. Ask him if she was bothering him. But just then, Wendla Sailsbury stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her looking angry and humiliated. She paused for a moment and announced.

"Lucy? She asked for a Lucy!"

Lucy stood up hesitantly.

"Well go on," the woman almost complained, "the dragon's waiting!" She continued out of the room, making sure they could hear her all the way down.

Lucy started giggling to herself, a hand to her mouth as she walked into Sandra James' office. Behind her she could hear the others doing just the same thing.

"Now Lucy…" Sandra looked up at her, she was wearing glasses, a piece of paper (her CV?) was in front of her, "do sit down dear."

Lucy took her place, saying nothing. She watched the woman like a hawk. She was an interesting character. Not one that Lucy would want to mess with in any shape or form.

"Now… You have not given your surname."

"No, ma'am, I haven't," she replied, calmly.

Sandra James looked surprised. Lucy suppressed a smirk. The power had shifted onto her side. At least a little. With that little piece of mystery, she had the power over the woman's curiosity. If she was to pursue this. Though it seemed she was aware of this to.

"I understand you have been travelling a lot," continued Sandra James, as though she cared little for the real identity of the girl before her.

"Yes ma'am, since I was about eight I believe."

"Such a young age… any particular reason?"

"I was orphaned, no family that would really look after me. Not that anyone could," she hesitated, "you see ma'am, I'm half Armestrian, half-"

"Ishballan, I can see that, girl."

"Well yes ma'am, but when I was younger it was hard for me to come to Central, where my father's family was. I don't know anything about my mother's side…" the unsaid comment here was 'and I don't want to.'

Clearly Sandra had picked up on this. She didn't pursue that path any longer. She had been open about her past, and her reasons for travelling. So far so good- she was truthful, respectful and clearly not full of herself.

"Your work- what have you done?"

"It's on my CV ma'am."

Sandra glanced down, surprised. "You've done all of this?"

"Yes, ma'am," Lucy nodded, "I'm a curious girl, I like to know how to do things."

"And yet you have no qualifications."

Lucy almost smirked along with Sandra at that point. She was trying to find away to make Lucy crack, to make her become angry. Not upset, otherwise she would have pushed the previous path. But angry. Lucy was not about to be duped.

"No, ma'am I don't," she shrugged, "everything I know has been self taught out of books, or what my uncle taught me when he saw me."

"Ah… a fast learner would you say?"

"I would have thought so, ma'am, yes. It fuels my curiosity."

"You could of coarse take a few exams for qualifications."

Pushing pushing pushing. Lucy was liking the game.

"Perhaps, but that would require money ma'am, if I am without money then I cannot try for qualification to get a job," she leaned foreword, perhaps she should let her possible future employer into her… more natural side, "besides… we both know high qualifications are not needed for a job like this. What ever ones you do need, ma'am, I have."

Sandra raised her eyebrows at her. She sat back and removed her glasses, watching her closely.

"You're a clever girl Lucy… I saw you today, as Adam spoke. You were watching me not him. You have a knack for watching people… figuring them out."

Lucy wasn't so sure. Personality wise, probably. Emotional states- that was a different matter. She didn't have much practise in that area. Just then, she decided not to argue with the woman.

"I suppose," shrugged Lucy, "again, I'm just curious."

"In saying that… if you are such a clever girl, why do you want a job here? Be honest with me."

"Honest, ma'am? All right… I want the money. I need the money. I want to be financially independent. I'm living with my aunt and cousin at the moment, and they are the only people on the Armestrian side of my family who know of my existence. I want to be able to have my own place so when I meet the rest of my family I don't have to be embarrassed. That, ma'am and…" she grinned wickedly, "this is the only place that does not insist on short clothing, even if it is preferred," she pulled up the sleeve of her left arm, "I refuse to wear them."

Sandra sat folded her hands in her lap. Her eyes surveyed Lucy closely. Finally she sat up. "We'll call you," she said, smiling.

Lucy stood up as she did, and put out her right hand. "It's been a pleasure to meet you, mrs James."

"And you, miss Lucy," she replied, taking the hand that Lucy extended.

Lucy left without being told who to send in next. As she passed through the waiting room, she paused beside the Xing woman.

"Excuse me," she said to the woman, "it's your turn. Good luck."

"Thank you," the woman said, smiling, "and you."

The two nodded at each other as one left and the other entered the office. Lucy could not help but notice that the Drachman was still giving her strange looks. She shrugged it off. She didn't need to take notice.

She found her back to the front and found Havoc still waiting for her as promised. He had a waitress with him who he was flirting with shamelessly, but the moment he saw her all his attention became focused on her.

"Want a coffee?"

"Can we get something stronger?" she asked, desperately, "I need a stiff drink…"

"That rough?"

Lucy nodded wordlessly, taking the arm he offered her after he had paid the waitress and winked at her.

As they walked out the doors, Havoc paused for a moment, then handed Lucy and freshly lit cigarette.

"You looked like you needed it," he told her.

"Thanks Jean," she sighed, taking a drag, "I owe you."

"Nah this is my treat," he told her smiling, "I owe you."

She just grinned at him, and followed him to the pub.

*

It had been two months. Their group had separated into smaller groups, integrating themselves into the city, finding homes, jobs, friends, a general life. They needed to fit in as much as possible despite being foreigners.

Their base camp where they met every so often, and their only point of contact if they could help it was still the old disbanded Ishballan camp.

The leader was there now. He looked around, on his own, smiling to himself.

His people were in now… it was only a matter of time before they could put things into motion.

Only a matter of time…


	6. Take a Job, Take a Chance

A/N: It's been a while, and I have a small case of writer's block on chapter 7 so it might be a while before there's a significant update (My first AS exam is in less than a month- I am scared, and uncreative :[), BUT because it's taken me a while to update this time, and it will be a while before I update again this chapter is the longest one so far ^___^ (actually that's rubbish- it just happened that way :P)

ANYWAY I this chapter's for ubergriff500! I'm so glad your knees all better and you can work for your career XD And… the fact that you did a an impression of Armstrong- made my day that ^___^

ENJOY ALL!!!!

Take a Job, Take a Chance

A week went by.

Winry and Ed were the happiest anyone had seen them in a very long time. They were holding hands, kissing in public and not arguing. Lucy finally felt relaxed around them. When those two were tense, it always frustrated her.

"You know Luce you were right!" said Winry one evening, she had come over to visit Gracia and Elysia as well, "I was going paranoid, looking at things negatively."

"I didn't say that exactly," Lucy said mildly, "ELLIE! GIVE THAT BACK!"

"I thought it was mine!" complained the little girl.

"Don't try it matey," laughed Lucy, "I bought it today."

Winry smiled contentedly to see the two sisters interacting with each other. It was sweet. They bickered like siblings did, which was understandable, as well as getting along perfectly. The age gap was large enough to ensure that Elysia still had respect for her, but small enough to allow them to still have fun together.

Despite the happiness going around, Alphonse appeared to be a little uneasy about what was happening. Anyone would have thought that because his brother and friend were back to being happy with each other Alphonse would have been over the moon. For some reason, he looked almost worried about it. As did Breda. Though neither told anyone as to why.

Though it has to be said the best news of the week was the fact that Lucy did get the job at the café come patisserie. She was surprised to say the least.

"I just don't get it," grumbled Lucy, "mrs James was really strange with me, the interview was so short! And I explicitly said I will not wear short things. And I mean in winter…" she tugged her jacket her tighter, "the metal and flesh don't like each other."

Elysia laughed, taking her sister's hand, her left hand, feeling the metal close around her own fingers though it was real. It was never the same as holding onto her sister's flesh side, but it was endearing to sense that it was still attempting to be real.

"You shouldn't be so harsh on yourself," she told the older girl, stubbornly, "you might have been in an accident, the only way you can tell is if you show them your automail. You're a pretty girl, big sister."

Lucy put her arm around the younger girl instead. "Ah Ellie… you're sweet," she grinned, "you're meant to say that. Here we are." The two girls arrived at the playground of her school, walking through the gates. She looked around. "Uh… humm… this place changed."

"Yeah- they put in a new jungle gym and improved the old one," Elysia pointed them out, "we complained too much."

"Fair enough."

Around them, some of the other parents were looking between the two in confusion. A few in disgust. Like in Elysia's class, there were only a few who appeared to have a problem with people like Lucy, though it was the few that were noticeable.

Lucy had yet to notice this.

"LISA!" there came a chorused call.

Elysia looked around, making Lucy do the same. Coming towards them, dressed warmly, were three girls. All were about eleven, same as Elysia. One was tall, with chocolate brown hair, a cute snubbed nose, pink cheeks and wide light brown eyes. Another was shorter, platinum blonde with light blue eyes. She had almost porcelain fair skin. The last one was considerably darker than her friends, an Ishballan girl, or so Lucy first thought. She her hair was dark, as was her skin, but her complexion was closer to Lucy's than Zarraq. And most noticeably she had green eyes.

She was like Lucy, half Armestrian and half Ishballan.

"Hey!" beamed Elysia.

"Who's that?" asked the brunette.

"Oh be nice," the blonde scolded, "she's your elder, you should be respectful."

"I'm an elder."

"Yeah, but she's older than you."

"So who is she?"

"You could ask _me_," Lucy said mildly, as Elysia laughed at the two bickering friends.

"Don't mind them," Elysia sighed, "Georgie and Jaz always do this, they've known each other since they were about two."

"Ah, explains it- so who's who?"

"I'm Georgina," said the brunette, suddenly smiling happily.

"I'm Jasmine," said the blonde.

The little mixed girl said nothing, kept her eyes on the ground. Jasmine put her arm around her.

"This is Rani Daniella Baker," Jasmine said, fondly, "she joined about three months ago. We call her Rani."

Lucy nodded, impressed. "You pronounce her name quite accurately." She looked at the little girl. "Hey Rani, do you know who I am?"

"Her nanny or something?" Rani mumbled, looking a little rebellious.

Elysia looked surprised while the other two girls giggled.

Lucy's own eyes widened. Then she started laughing. "You haven't told her about me yet have you?"

"I never got the chance!" Elysia explained, "I mean I talked about my big sister and stuff, but explanations are kind of a pain."

Rani looked up. "You're her sister?" she was confused.

Elysia's other two friends, looked between each other, grinning. Clearly they had finally worked out who Lucy was.

"Not exactly… it's complicated. Roughly speaking I'm her cousin, but my parents died, so her dad, my dad's cousin, took me in as his daughter. So now I'm her big sister."

"So… wait…" Rani was confused, "so you're like me?"

"Mixed? Yeah- I'm Chaandi Natasha Fuller-Nabeel," she beamed, "auntie Gracia calls me Tash though."

Rani suddenly looked happier. Lucy finally understood why she was so adverse to the older girl being there. Clearly some of her Ishballan side had shunted her aside because of who and what she was. She assumed they were mostly like that. Which was fair enough, Lucy had put up with enough traditionalism with her mother's parents to know the irritation that most people in the same position as her might have some bad reactions.

"So you're the big sister we've heard so much about!" grinned Georgina.

"Unfortunately, yes, I don't know what Ellie's been telling you guys, but not all of it is true I promise."

"Can you do alchemy?" asked Jasmine excited.

"Yeah…"

"And you've been travelling?" asked Rani, who had now decided to join in.

"Mmmhmm, almost all my life."

"And and and you're good friend with the Elric alchemists and the Rockbell mechanic?!" put in Georgina.

"Well yeah, I mean Elysia is as well. Now go on guys, get going, I swear you have class."

The girls glanced up at their school, the teacher was beaconing them inside. All four of them sighed heavily. They muttered something, but didn't disagree.

"I'll see you guys round all right?" Lucy said cheerfully, "It was nice to meet you."

"You too!" the three chorused.

Lucy turned her attention to Elysia. "Am I picking you up today? Coz I'm not sure what time I finish."

"Nah it's all right. Rani goes the same way as me, mum said I was walking with her and her mum today."

"Ah right… I missed that conversation."

"You seemed to be listening."

Lucy wracked her brains. Then vaguely remembered Gracia telling her something along those lines while she was day dreaming about warmth. She shook her head, Elysia's friends were giggling at her. "All right fine! Now go away! Go learn," she hugged her younger cousin, who soon scampered off.

Lucy paused watching them go in, chattering to each other, teasing each other. She was a little jealous, she never got to do that. But she got to travel. She learned from life, and that was a different sort of schooling altogether.

She sighed, putting her hands in her pockets, and wandered out the front gates smiling to herself.

She paused for a moment, looking up. The sun was over shadowed by cloud and the day had a cold brilliance about it. Yet with snow crunching under foot, it didn't seem to bad.

"Hey you."

Lucy heard the voice but didn't expect it to be aimed at her, she started walking away.

"Hey YOU!" someone reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She turned around blinking in surprise. She was face to face, almost nose to nose, with a thirty something woman, blonde hair, fair skin and blue eyes. She looked angry… and scared.

'Oh no… not this again,' sighed Lucy.

"Yes?" she asked aloud.

"What the hell do you think you're doing coming to this place?"

"Uh… dropping my little sister off? Why else would I want to come to a school at some ungodly hour?"

The woman scowled. "Your sister? You mean that new Ishballan girl?"

"You mean Rani Baker? No, her friend, Elysia Hughes."

The woman looked even more confused. "Gracia's Hughes daughter?"

"Yeah. Technically she's my cousin, so you know, not much family resemblance, she still calls me big sister- so I'm her sister."

"Not much- listen miss, I don't know how the hell that works-"

"Really? The let me explain. My mother was Ishballan, my father was Armestrian. Is that what you were getting at?"

"Your kind isn't welcome here!" she was clutching at straws by this point. Lucy wasn't letting her be ignorant, so she had to be insulting. "Coming into this city, taking out jobs, school places and terrorising it! It's your own fault you know- you rebelled against us when we were just trying to help."

"Which gave you a reason to go an massacre all of the remaining people?"

It wasn't Lucy who had spoken. It was an accented voice, the accent was familiar. Though she wasn't sure where to place it. The voice was male, deep, authoritative.

"It was their own fault!" the woman spluttered, looking over Lucy's head to the speaker, "if they hadn't-"

"So if you had rebelled and they had massacred you- that would have been fine too."

"No… it… we're the ones in charge!"

"Why does that make a difference?" Lucy spoke now. The woman before her opened and closed her mouth, looking like a fish. "I thought so. Now, sweetheart, run along back home, I'm sure the milkman is waiting for you."

The woman stood there for a moment, looking confused. Then it dawned on her what Lucy was implying. "How- dare- you-" she was too angry to say anything else and turned on her heel and walked away.

Lucy started giggling. The woman had screwed up her face, and pouted as she had stormed off. It was the expression on her plain features that had caused the laughter from the younger girl.

Behind her, the man who back her up also seemed to be laughing.

Lucy turned around to see who her back up was.

He was tall. Chiselled features, strong nose, defined jaw line, high but not defined cheekbones. He had longish pitch black hair, that fell into wide bright electric blue eyes. He was stockily built, with large hands pushed into jean pockets. He wore a large coat over his frame.

"Hi," she said, smiling, "thanks for that."

"It's all right," he assured her, "it can be a bit daunting having to put up with people like that." There was that accent again.

She frowned. She recognised him. She was sure she did. "Do I… know you?"

His white skin flushed red, he looked away embarrassed. "Yeah, sort of. It was sort of the reason I came over. I recognised you from the other day. The girl who's interview was shortest."

"Ah. Right. Nice…" she trailed off, "oh… I know you now! It was at the Blue Patisserie interview!"

He seemed to relax. "Yeah," he beamed, "I- I got the job actually."

"Oh wow, congrats! So did I," she grinned, "I'm actually heading over there now."

"So am I- wanna…" he flushed red again, "wanna walk together?"

She grinned. "After you saved my ass, I'd be grateful. I'm Lucy by the way." She put her hand out.

"Caedmon Weylin," he replied, taking it, shaking it firmly.

"That's a Drachman name," Lucy said mildly, as they walked together, "brave warrior I think Caedmon means… no- wise warrior."

Caedmon nodded, impressed. "You're good, how'd you know?"

She grinned. "I've been travelling," she shrugged, "Drachma was lovely, well… the South of it, I didn't get much further… they caught me and threw me back over the boarder. But I picked up on the culture, the names. I like names."

"Hummm… well you clearly don't like yours?"

"What?!"

"Lucy? Really? That's not your name."

"No…"

Their conversation continued until they reached the shop.

*

The Elric brothers were at work. Edward whistling as he wrote the reports, going through anything he had forgotten. He was in a brilliant mood. Winry and he were happy again. Zarraq and Lucy were back. Elysia wasn't fighting any more. Rose and George were happy together, and Leo liked him, and marriage was being discussed. Alphonse was working with him. Riza was well, if a little weak. Black Hataye wasn't in the office that day, so no dog slobber. And Mustang was in a good mood.

All in all, everything was going well.

He just could not help but notice that both Breda and Alphonse were looking a little uneasy. There was no dog, so that wasn't why Breda was so jumpy. As for Alphonse… he couldn't think of a single reason as to why he would be like that.

Finally he asked him.

"Al what's up?"

"Nothing," he replied… a little too quickly.

"Come on, it's written all over your face."

Alphonse stammered. "Well I uh…" he had to think fast, "you're going to think this is stupid," faster, "I mean it's not anything to do with me really," _faster_! "It's Lucy you see…" Breda was looking nervous by this point. "You know…" a light bulb went off in his head. "Her new job? At Blue Patisserie. It's a great place, I've just heard the manager can be kinda scary."

"She got the job?" Havoc sat up suddenly.

"Yeah," grinned Alphonse, "she found out yesterday. She was so happy!"

"She was certain she hadn't gotten it," Havoc laughed,"stupid girl. She must have made an impression on them."

"She'll be good at that," Falman pointed out, grinning, "she's not exactly easy to miss."

"Wait wait wait wait wait," complained Edward, "Lucy's got a job? Why didn't she tell me?"

"She's been going for loads of interviews," sighed Alphonse, "and you've had your head in the clouds for the last week. Even if she did tell you you wouldn't have noticed."

"Yeah I would!"

"No you wouldn't. She found out yesterday after I took her home."

"So why didn't you tell me?"

"I forgot until now," which was the truth.

Edward grumbled. He felt out of the loop now. Everyone around the office were saying how much Lucy deserved such a well paying job and so forth. Or, in Falman's case, complaining that she could do so much better.

"We'll go visit her at lunch," Edward announced suddenly, "bring some cake back for the office."

There was a sudden quiet. Alphonse noticed a certain anger in his brother's tone as he spoke. He just wasn't sure what was causing it.

"You should," Mustang said suddenly, "they're cakes are pretty good."

Edward nodded. Then it was settled he'd visit Lucy during his lunch break. Like he used to be she left all that time ago.

He couldn't help smiling to himself, thinking about the past and what the two of them were like now. He shook his head, and concentrated on his reports. He couldn't think of Lucy. Not like that. He was in love with Winry. Of coarse he was. And she was in love with him. That was the end of the matter.

*

In Winry's shop, Zarraq was sitting behind the counter, staring ahead. It was slow that day for some reason. Admittedly it was hardly Rush Valley, but there were enough people in the military who needed new limbs to carry on their work.

He was half glad, he was generally in a bad mood, and he didn't want to take it out on people who didn't deserve it.

"Zarraq," Winry appeared by his side.

"Yeah?" he looked at her. That sort of twisting feeling hit his stomach again. The same as it always did. He wasn't sure when it started, but he couldn't make it stop.

"You all right?"

"Mmm," he replied dryly, "just a bit bored."

She took a seat next to him. "It's not just that," she told him easily.

"What else is it?"

"I dunno… I'm not a mind reader," she grinned at him, "c'mon, you've been living with me long enough to figure that one out."

He sighed. "It's nothing, honest."

'Unless you count the fact you're with a guy who doesn't appreciate you,' he thought, almost sadly.

"C'mon," she nudged him arm, "you can tell me."

He looked at her. There were only few inches between them. He wanted to kiss her. He refrained from doing so… it would have had awful repercussions.

"It's… Lucy," he said finally.

"What about her?"

"She refused to tell me about our past."

Winry sighed. She had suspected it was something like that. He seemed quieter than usual in more recent weeks.

"Maybe she's got her reasons," suggested Winry. She knew the reasons, though she wasn't sure she thought it was a good idea.

"Maybe… it's kinda the fact that she might that's worrying me even more. I want to know… I hate not knowing. It is my past isn't? Not just hers. I just… I want to remember my parents, my friends, my good deeds… my bad… I want to go back to what I was like before." He hesitated. "There's something in me that wants be… louder… more confident… I just don't know how."

Winry sighed. She wasn't sure how to comfort him, make things better for her friend. It wasn't her place, it was Lucy's. She was going to have to tell Zarraq about his past soon, when was the real question. Winry resolved then and there to talk to her friend.

"Just… give her time," Winry told him softly, taking his large callused hand, "she'll come round."

He sighed and squeezed her hand for a moment, then stood and moved away, saying nothing.

Winry rested on her fist looking out. If Lucy didn't tell him soon, she might push him away entirely.

*

Lucy had been introduced to the rest of the new staff. There was Caedmon Weylin, who Lucy already knew, Fredrick Gray (an Armestrian boy, about nineteen years old), the two boys who had gotten the job. The other woman was Xiao-Niao Jin, the Xing woman Lucy had noticed.

It appeared that as Lucy collected her uniform from Adam James, he noticed her looking confused.

"What is it, Lucy?" he asked, sounding genuinely worried.

She looked up at him, pushing her glasses up her nose again. "I just… I dunno why you hired me… that's all…"

"Why wouldn't we? My wife liked your interview, you were honest, assertive, it's what we expect of our employees towards us. If not towards the customer," he grinned at her.

"I guess but… I did tell her about the no short stuff… and she still hired me."

"Not all our female staff wears short things, you'll notice. All limbs is not a requirement, and the need to show flesh is not there. This is a cake shop, Lucy, not a restaurant." He still saw her looking uncertain. "You're worried we hired you for the colour."

She hesitated, then made a face. "Yeah, I don't wanna be a PR stunt you know? And I mean, miss Jin, mr. Weylin and I seem to be the only non-Armestrians here…"

"That's because you're the only ones who have ever applied who were any good. Who could get passed my wife anyway… Sandra has… a way with people," he grinned, "that and we contacted mr Phillips."

Lucy looked up in surprise. He was the owner of Charlotte, her last place of employment in Central.

"He told me that not hiring you would be a mistake. He called you hard working, honest, friendly with sober customers and harsh on the drunk. You are also apparently brave… running into the collapsing building for a friend? That's the sort of loyalty needed in a shop like this- it's not something we find everyday."

Lucy put her head to the side watching him. Studying his face, his expressions… his gestures. She liked him. There was something simple… something genuine about him that she could not put her finger on. She liked him already. He reminded her of Harry in a way. "You love this place don't you?"

"Yeah… I do…" he looked up smiling. Suddenly he frowned, his entire personality became more serious, almost sinister. "Now… Lucy, I hate to do this to you, as you probably have a good reason for it… we need your full _real _name."

"Do… I have to?" she asked, nervously.

"Yeah… just for administration reasons, only Sandra and I look at them I promise. I need to know who you are… I need to know that you can trust me."

She paused, weighing it up in her mind. She didn't like the idea of her really identity being out there, it felt unnatural to her. At the same time, she needed the job. She wanted the job.

Very grateful they had to go into the office to collect their uniforms, Lucy asked, "you'll call me Lucy everyday though right?"

"Of coarse," there was a hint of curiosity behind his words, there was fair reason for it, he asked no more questions.

"Ch… Chaandi Natasha Fuller-Nabeel."

Adam had his pen out, scribbling on a piece of paper, clearly her information. "Mother's name?"

"Zulekha Minahil Nabeel."

"Father's name?"

"Blake Thomas Fuller."

Adam hesitated before he wrote down the name. He clearly recognised it. Almost unable to hide it. It wasn't a common name, and perhaps the Azure alchemist had made a bigger name for himself than Lucy had realised, so Adam clearly recognising the name might not have been so shocking for her.

"There, good," he smiled at her, "you know where the changing room is, your shift started…" he glanced at his watch, "at nine, so you finish at three. You have a half an hour lunch break at one to one thirty, we stager the breaks between eleven and two, and your full time table is down stairs. You have sundays off, and Saturday from twelve onwards off."

"Uh… thank you sir," she smiled, taking the uniform, and leaving. It almost didn't seem real, she finally had a job. After two months of searching she had a real legitimate job!

It took all her self control not to dance once she had reached the staff changing rooms.

The uniform itself consisted of a black skirt, or black pants, a white shirt, and an apron. Lucy's were tiny, and outlined every curve, putting them all in the right places. She examined herself in the mirror provided. She was glad she didn't have to wear the skirt, she was already very uncomfortable in the pants, wishing they were jeans instead.

She smiled to herself, before heading out of the changing room, into the shop joining her fellow employees, and being introduced to the job. Which she learned quite quickly. As ever, she was grateful for her quick mind when it came to learning things.

Strangely, all morning, she found herself working with Caedmon. She wasn't all that stupid, she was well aware of all the looks and smiles he was getting from the other female workers there, what she didn't understand was why he stayed by her.

"You know…" she said softly, as she put a large cake in a box at the back, Caedmon working beside her, "Jenny over there seems to have taken a liking to you."

Caedmon glanced over his shoulder at the busty blonde, then turned away shrugging. "So? She's a bit of an air head don't you think?"

"Pretty though."

There was a pause. The Caedmon seemed to smile. "Not the prettiest one in the shop."

She looked up at him sharply. He grinned and winked at her, before leaving to had over the cake to Victor, the guy he had been paired with to learn the ropes. She paused, and shook her head. He was just being nice. She finished up and handed hers to Diana, her mentor.

"That one's got his eye on you," winked Diana, as she took the box, handing to the customer, who thanked her before leaving.

"What? Who?"

"Caedmon, the cute guy."

Lucy looked up at her partner for the day. Diana was a few years older than her, about mid-thirties. The wedding band on her finger indicated marriage, while her motherly nature meant she probably had at least one child. She was dark for an Armestrian, with yellowish brown eyes and blonde hair.

"He might be," she replied dryly, "let's not talk about my issues here though. How may I help?" she asked another customer behind the counter, all of a sudden aware that Caedmon was again right next to her. Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy could see Diana grinning.

*

It was twelve thirty by the time Al and Edward turned up. The shop was busy, but not insanely so. There were people sitting around, sipping coffee, talking with friends, or families out for a quick treat while shopping. It was significantly more sedate than Charlotte was, but it suited Lucy's needs just fine.

They scanned the counter looking for Lucy. They didn't spot her at first, no thanks to her height really. It was when they saw her beside a tall, built pale male with black hair did they notice her.

She was smiling with him. Laughing was she served the customers. She pushed his arm playfully as he teased her, scowling a little before giggling again. He'd wrap his arms around her, for a moment, only to have her push him away again, a red tint to her cheeks.

"Well…" said Alphonse slowly, not looking at Edward, "she's making friends."

Beside him, Edward was unwillingly becoming more and more angry. She had only ever seen her laugh like that with her family. She only blushed like that with him! This wasn't right… that man was a stranger. He wasn't one of them. He had absolutely no right.

"Yeah…" he growled, "friends."

Alphonse looked directly at him and sighed as the blonde walked straight towards the counter. The man was never satisfied with just one was he… no wonder his brother had gotten involved in alchemy.

He caught up with him as Edward approached the counter. It was the man who turned to greet them. He was grinning. Edward didn't like it.

"Hi," he said brightly, "how can I he-"

"Is Lucy here?"

"Lucy?"

"Yeah, Lucy. Ishballan girl. White in her hair. Short."

"Fun sized," came a voice, "I like to call it fun sized."

"Hi Lucy!" called Alphonse.

"Al! Hey boy!" she reached up on tip toe to see over the edge, "what are you doing here?"

"Visiting you," said Edward, butting in, "why didn't you tell me you got a job here?"

"I found out yesterday, idiot," she sighed, rolling her eyes, "guys listen I get a half an hour lunch break at one, you guys mind waiting around till then?"

"Course not" beamed Alphonse. His brother was in too stranger mood to rely on him just then, "if you give us cake."

Lucy laughed, "sure! Coffee as well?"

"Tea for me," said Edward, grumpily.

"Comin' up guys," she grinned at them.

The two brothers took their seats. Alphonse could not help noticing Edward constantly looking at Lucy and her new found friend. Together the two of them chose three pieces of cake for the two brothers, made their drinks while Lucy brought them over.

She stopped with them just for a moment to hug them both in greeting, before darting back behind the counter. Where the flirting between the two continued.

To Alphonse it was sweet to watch. Lucy had only ever been good at flirting if it meant she got something out of it, that Ace character she had been faced with all those years ago were a testament to that. But here… here she was a natural. She teased him, laughed with him, told him off. All as she did her work diligently.

To Edward… he wasn't sure why, he just felt it was a betrayal.

When one finally came around, Lucy came to sit with them, mug of coffee in her had, and a sandwich in the other.

"I need to remember to bring some form of lunch here," she told the Elric brothers, "Edan had some more than he need which is the only reason I have this." She held up the sandwich.

"Edan?" asked Edward.

"Well his name's Caedmon, but Edan's his nick name."

"Making friends then?" interjected Alphonse quickly.

She smiled, almost dreamily. Edward felt his stomach clench. He didn't even have a reason as to why. He had Winry. Why would he care if some girl who had a crush on him moved onto someone else?!

"Yeah I guess. Annie's great too- I mean Diana, she's kinda like my mentor. Victor too. He's a bit gruff you know, but still likeable."

"No enemies then?" Alphonse was curious.

She made a face. "Jenny doesn't like me at the moment but I dunno why."

The conversation continued, with Edward quiet for the majority of the time. Then just as he loosened up enough to actually talk, Caedmon walked over.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked cheerfully.

"No of coarse not," smiled Alphonse, "you're… K- K-" he made a face, "sorry how do you you say your name?"

"Kad-mon," Caedmon replied, "it's Drachman, so it's no worries."

"Drachman, wow… I thought I detected an accent. I was there about a year ago. Diplomatic mission really. You have interesting Alchemy there, very similar to ours. In Xing it's poles apart!"

Lucy was laughing already. "You'll have to excuse the alchemists," she explained, "they're good company when you can get them out of work mode. This is the Azure alchemist, Alphonse Elric," she indicated to the younger man, "and this is the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric," she indicated to the brother. "This guys, is Caedmon Weylin."

"What do you mean get out of work mode," asked Edward, curtly, "you love alchemy."

"It's hardly my obsession," shrugged Lucy.

"It's not like you're bored when we talk about it."

"No not really, but it's only fair when we have non-alchemists among us to stick to non-alchemy subjects."

"So you and Lucy work together," Alphonse said loudly. He was struggling to keep control of the situation.

"Yeah, there were four slots and seven applicants. They decided to go evenly two boys two girls," nodded Caedmon.

"Though it's not how we met really," Lucy butted in, "when I was dropping Elysia off this morning I had a run in with an ignorant parent. He helped me shut them up."

"You have a habit of doing that," Edward was speaking again. He was getting angrier.

"What?"

"Attracting trouble and bailing yourself out again."

"If I attract trouble I should hope I can bale myself out again," she shrugged, again, getting confused at Edward's entire attitude towards her just then, "I just got lucky he was there to help me out." She patted the tall man on his knee.

Edward caught the short lived blush on Caedmon's cheeks as she did so. His eyes narrowed at him. He just did not like what was going on. Lucy was paying so much attention to the stranger, being so familiar with him. It wasn't right. She knew nothing about him.

Lucy caught the glare, and frowned at him. As Alphonse engaged Caedmon in friendly talk, she caught Edward's eye. He looked at her for a moment then looked away. As she leaned forewords to talk to him, they could hear her name being called.

"LUCY!"

She sat up suddenly and turned. Sandra waved her over pointing at the clock. She had two minutes and she had to get herself cleaned up. "Guys I have to go," she said suddenly, "can you guys get the bill?"

"That's why we're here," grinned Alphonse.

"And we need to bring a cake back for the others," Edward said, sounding haughty.

"I'll sort it. I'll get something everyone'll like. Come up to the counter to pay all right? Ask for Diana, she'll have it waiting if I'm not there."

"All right Luce," Alphonse said happily, "we'll see you later all right?"

"Fine- if I have to," she joked, coming round the table hugging Alphonse tightly and kissing his forehead. Without hesitation she came around and hugged Edward too, neglecting the kiss. Probably because he was older.

As she left, Lucy glanced over her shoulder. Alphonse was talking to Caedmon, while Edward had become silent. She didn't like it. Edward was strange when he was quiet. Like he was plotting something. She was suspicious.

*

By two fifteen the two alchemists were back at head quarters carrying a rather large banoffee pie style cake Lucy had picked out for them. Honestly it was suited to the taste of all in their office. She knew them surprisingly well.

All the way back, Edward had been quiet, thoughtful- no, brooding. For everyone around, it was a dangerous state for him to be in. Generally speaking it would have been dangerous no matter what.

"Brother- what was your problem?" he asked finally.

"What?" Edward looked up, he was carrying to cake box.

"What was your problem?"

"The cake is too-"

"Don't pretend to be an idiot. You were rude to mr Weylin back there. He's a friend of Lucy's-"

"She hardly knows him!" he snapped suddenly, "he's hardly a friend."

Alphonse frowned. Was… was Edward jealous? That hardly made any… sense… did it? "Well she wants to be friends with him. And he clearly wants to be friends with her. He made an effort-"

Edward made a face. "Oh yes friends- that's all he wants to be with her friends. He wants her ass you idiot!"

Alphonse sighed heavily. "You're referring to the flirting I take it?" his tone had become sharp and clear.

"Why are you so calm about this? I thought you fancied Lucy!"

Again, Alphonse sighed. His brother seemed to have well and truly lost touch with reality. Alphonse's crush had faded just over a year after Lucy had left. He adored her, loved her, he hardly believed himself to be in love with her. It was a friendship love, almost a brotherly love. Nothing else.

"I grew out of that crush, older brother," he said slowly.

Edward hesitated. "Yeah… but… still!"

"Still what?!"

"I- he- she- I don't like him!"

Alphonse stopped short in the middle of the hall way towards the office. "What?"

"I don't like him!" he insisted, his golden eyes very very serious, "I don't trust him. He just seems a little bit shifty you know? Flirting with everyone stuff like that."

Alphonse shook his head and sighed for a third time. Something was happening with his brother. He just could not put his finger on it. At least, he didn't want to. The repercussions could have been catastrophic.

As they entered the office, they were bombarded, mostly by Falman and Mustang, by questions about Lucy's job and well being. Mustang had all of a sudden become significantly more protective over the girl.

While Alphonse answered all their questions, and pointed at the cake box now on Mustang's desk, Edward had walked over to his station sat down and glared at nothing miserably.

Hawkeye, as her name implies, watched him closely. Like Alphonse she could sense an unrest in him that made no sense. She want to figure out what it was that was bothering him. She just wasn't sure how do it. For now, watching and waiting was all she could do. All she had to do was wait until he had given away what was going on in his head, then she would have permission to try and help.

Being on the side lines was never fun.

*

By half three, Lucy and Caedmon were out of the shop, looking tired. For a moment Lucy was quiet. After the way Edward had acted just a few hours before, she was embarrassed. Finally she turned to him.

"Edan- listen… about today…"

"You don't have to thank me again you," he grinned down at her.

She chuckled and shook her head. "No I mean about my friends."

He looked confused. "What about them?"

"It's… I mean Al was fine, he always is… but… Ed was being so rude, Edan, I'm so sorry. I don't know what got to him today."

He smiled at her gently, and reached out to put an arm around her, almost hesitantly. "Honestly, it's fine, he was just looking out for his girlfriend-"

"Girlfriend?" Lucy looked up at him and started laughing, almost uncontrollably, "you think- oh dear Ishbal- that's that's-" A fresh load of giggles took over. "No no no," she shook her head, "no way. Ed is a good friend… not in a million years."

Caedmon looked surprised. He blinked a couple of times. "Well… do you have a boyfriend?"

She shook her head still grinning not looking at him. She leaned against the wall of the shop, and took out a cigarette and lighter. "No," she replied, "I don't have the necessary qualities most men want."

"Which is?"

"All limbs," she looked up at him through a haze of smoke, smirking, "men get scared by big scars," she tugged on her sleeve revealing a glint of the metal, "and this is a pretty big scar."

He smile nervously, nodding. "Well yeah… so… does that mean… I can ask you out?"

"What?" she looked at him sharply. That was not something she had been expecting him to say.

"You know…" he was playing with his jacket, "go out… dinner… eat… a date."

She stared at him, then too a draft from her cigarette. "I hope you're not taking the piss."

"No! No no no no no!"

"Methinks he doth protest too much…"

"What?"

"Something my father used to say," she shook her head, "Edan, I will not be taken for a fool."

"I won't treat you like a fool. Lucy… today… it was the first time I've enjoyed any job… just because we got to get to know each other. We hung out, had fun, you know?"

"So… why ask me out? Friends is good…"

"Yeah… friends is good… but I just thought… I should give this a try… it's been a while since I've been able to relax with a girl like I have done with you… just messing about…"

Lucy hesitated, staring at the cigarette in her fingers. "All right then…" she said slowly, "I'll go out with you."

"Really?" he looked at her suddenly hopeful, "and I swear Lucy it'll just be a date I don't expect-"

She leaned up on tip toes and pressed her lips to his cheek, her right hand on the opposite cheek. She looked at him, her sunglasses still over her eyes. "Friday, seven o'clock at the square," she told him smiling, "you can decide where we go."

"Any pref-"

"Surprise me," she grinned at him winking, "now- I'm going to head home, I have a little sister to hang out with. See ya." She stepped away from him and walked away, putting the cigarette to her lips. She couldn't help grinning to herself as she walked. Maybe she was finally getting over her crush on Edward. It would be no more secrets from Winry and she was looking foreword to that.

There was a small skip in her step as she made her way through the streets. Good day at work. Friends who cared enough to visit. And a date.

*

Edward stormed into Winry's shop after work looking thoroughly annoyed. Zarraq looked startled as he came storming in.

"Uh… hi?" he asked nervously.

Edward looked up at him his golden eyes on fire. Zarraq half backed away. Edward sighed and shook his head, his entire being softening.

"Sorry," he mumbled coming around the counter into the work shop, "not a great day. Is Winry around?"

"No she's had to make a delivery- what's up, mate?" Zarraq sounded genuinely worried.

Edward looked at him and came to sit beside him. He heaved a sigh. "It's… all right, don't get mad or anything, but it's your sister."

"Tash? What about her?"

"Her new job…"

"They don't treat them right? Not enough pay?"

Edward had to smile. Zarraq was clearly trying to look out for his sister, it was sweet. And it was confirmation that he still loved her from the bottom of his heart.

"It's… this guy…"

Zarraq's eyes narrowed. "What's he done?"

Edward hesitated. "This is going to sound stupid… I'm just trying to look out for her. She's flirting with him and he's flirting back."

Zarraq paused. "And?"

As much as he loved her, Zarraq knew fully well that Lucy was a grown woman, past every pubescent mile stone in life. He could hardly control her. He wasn't about to control her love life. That was bordering on stupid.

"And… and I don't trust him!"

He laughed. "Ed, you're being protective. Tash's fine, she can look after herself."

"What- but- she- ARGH!"

"Calm down," Zarraq put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "she's a big girl now, she can make mistakes. And when she does, we'll be there to beat the mistake up. Right?"

Edward looked at him. He nodded, though he seemed to be resisting it.

"Besides, give her some credit- Tash isn't so stupid. You never know, he might be a good guy for her."

Again Edward nodded, without really meaning to. He was half thinking that it wasn't allowed, that Lucy's only interest should lie with him. At least then guys couldn't mess with her. At the same time, he almost wondered if he was being jealous. He pushed that away quickly. No- it was an over protective brother's reaction. That was all. If Zarraq had been there, he'd be thinking the same thing.

"C'mon mate," Zarraq got up, "I think we'll close up shop. Winry can let herself in. Fancy some dinner? It's my turn to cook tonight."

"Sound's good to me," Edward sounded tired, and he felt significantly older than he really was.

*

Much later that night, Gracia sat in her living room, a picture of Maes in her hands. A frown was creasing her forehead. Lucy… had… a date? But she was only… Gracia stopped herself. Only? Lucy was a grown woman and she had to accept it. She was happy for her little girl, she finally was able to settle into a normal life. Being able to work, date, learn. Rather than travelling from town to town, trying to earn enough in each place to stay somewhere, to survive.

"Mum?" Elysia had come into her room. Gracia looked up suddenly, "mum was is it?"

"Nothing," smiled Gracia.

"Don't lie, you've got the picture of dad again."

"What?"

"When you're happy or something you get the picture of him in his home clothes, when your worried, sad or angry it's his uniform one."

Gracia looked down. Sure enough, it was Maes cheeky grin when he was in his blue uniform. It was absent minded the pictures she chose. She guessed her daughter was likely to notice.

"It's not that thing with sister is it?"

Gracia nodded. "A little…"

"Why?"

"She's grown up too quickly that's all. I didn't get to see her much and now, she's suddenly a grown woman."

Elysia was looking surprised. "Really?" her mother nodded, "coz I was thinking that it was weird that she agreed to go out with this guy when she likes Ed."

Gracia chuckled. "Sometimes in life… you can't have everything you want. Tash knows that if she wants all of their friendships, she had to sacrifice her feelings for Ed. That aside, how does she know that Ed likes her back? He's with Winry now."

"But they argue all the time!"

"That's besides the point, Ellie," Gracia smiled, and touched her daughter's cheek, "you'll understand better when you get older."

Elysia scowled. She'd be twelve in three days, she didn't like that talk. "I guess," she grumbled.

"C'mon," she put Maes' picture back, "bed time I think."

Elysia got up, and went up stairs with her mother, still mulling over what was said. She wasn't going to get herself involved… not yet… she still couldn't help feelings frustrated though.

*

The old Ishballan refugee camp. The seven members huddled together in the tent they constructed. Each other them relayed what each of them were doing. Xiao-Niao Jin, the Xing woman translated for the Ishballan woman.

Finally it came to the Xing woman and the Drachman man themselves.

"Well Xiao," their leader said, "hows it been going for you."

"Quite well," her tone was curt and direct. No nonsense. "We have successfully gotten jobs, at the same place so it does not seem unusual for us to have regular contact. The same place that Shen and Dáwei do their deliveries."

She was referring to the twin Xing men.

"Very good," their leader nodded.

"But," Caedmon cut in, "there… there's something interesting you should know." He grinned. "We've found someone we believe to… to be related to him working at the shop with us."

Their leader sat up, his red eyes full of curiosity. "Why so certain?"

"The white in the hair," he told him, "it is a trait in his family, on his mother's side."

"I didn't know he had any family left."

"Neither did I," shrugged Caedmon, "but she might prove to be useful."

The leader nodded slowly. "Very well… yes… well done all of you. Now, I believe we should meet in about a month. See what you can find out about this person, Xiao, Caedmon. I expect a full report next month."

"Of coarse," the two chorused.

The band of men and women broke up and each went their separate ways. Until the next meeting.


	7. Why Are Memories Forgotten?

A/N: Awh :( no reviews this time. I'm looking foreward to them this time though =] *looks hopeful* Enjoy chapter 8 folks ^____^

Why Are Memories Forgotten?

It didn't take too much longer for the peaceful period in their lives to slowly disintegrate. A matter of weeks in reality. It all started with Lucy Fuller-Nabeel and Caedmon Weylin.

The two were not officially 'together' as it were, but they were seeing a lot of each other outside of work. While at work, the two seemed to have a hard time keeping their hands off each other. They had been told off by Sandra on slow days, who seemed the find the whole thing rather amusing.

Her family adored Caedmon. Gracia had commented that he was a good looking boy, and Elysia had given him the 'touch my sister and die' talk, which he seemed to take rather seriously. Even Rose and Leo seemed to like him, though perhaps it was because Rose was stressed and Caedmon was able to keep the young boy happy for a few hours while she went to do the grocery shopping. Even Zarraq had taking a liking to him, even if he kept his distance, keeping his eye on him. In fact the only person who seemed to have an issue with him was Edward.

"I don't know why you don't like him," complained Winry one evening after Lucy and Caedmon had left their place, they had gone on a double date, "he's perfectly sweet, he makes her feel special, he's a good guy-"

"He is not a good guy!" complained Edward, he almost sounded as though he was whining, "I dunno why you guys can't see that. Win… he hasn't even asked her to be his girlfriend yet and I swear they've already-"

"Don't be so crude," scolded Winry, "you sound like an old woman. And so what? Lucy's a big girl- she's hardly a push over. Leave her alone, she's happy."

"Argh!" Edward stood up from his position on the couch and paced, "you don't understand… he'll… he's… he's not a good guy. I can tell."

Winry sighed, turning to lie on the sofa, "honestly Ed… you're far too protective. It's going to be the death of you. Just give him a chance."

Edward sat down and grunted. He just did not understand why no one could see what he could. Well… perhaps not see… but sense… He couldn't explain it. But he knew. And he was going to prove it.

It was not just Lucy's external relationships causing problems, problems had begun to arise with Lucy and Zarraq.

Even after Winry had spoken to her, Lucy still refused to talk to Zarraq of his past known to him. Zarraq was getting frustrated. Everyday that passed he became angrier, more violent. He'd spend hours away from his family, brooding. Nobody knew where he went or when he came back.

Living with him, Winry was getting worried. She'd come to care about the older man a lot. He was kind and gentle when he wanted to be and she knew it. It almost hurt her to see him like this. She could sense he was going to snap soon, long before anyone else. Though not before Lucy.

It was a Saturday. Lucy had finished work. She had come to help Winry with repairs and to just generally spend time with her. Most Saturdays afternoons were spent looking after Leo and Elysia. But Elysia was growing up, she was out with friends that day. Leo was with his mother and possible step father, meeting possible step grandparents. So Lucy had that time off.

Winry had just gone up the stairs, getting them a snack and a hot drink. Lucy was left humming to herself, making shapes out of scrap metal.

The door opened, the bell rung.

"We're not open!" she called.

"I live here."

She turned around. Zarraq was standing just inside, completely drenched. His long hair, just to his shoulders, were sticking to his neck and face. He was watching her closely. Lucy swallowed. She was scared.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, getting up, suddenly wishing she had been behind the counter.

"No. I've eaten."

That cold steely tone. She hadn't heard his voice in that tone for so long. She hadn't missed it. It made her shiver.

"Oh well… a hot drink maybe-"

"Chaandi- up stairs now."

"What- why?"

Lucy could have sworn she just blinked and he was at her side, his hand around her upper right arm, squeezing it tightly. "Up now."

Two words. They froze her heart, made her squirm. She felt as though she were ten years old again, looking up at the man who just cut the best alchemist circle he could find into her right palm. Before he started to feel bad. Before he had knocked her out before the pain could really kick in. Before she awoke to find him shouting at people to get some clean water. Right at the point where all he had was pure hatred for her. But this time… this time the hate wasn't going. It was still there. She kept waiting for it to go. It stayed. Smouldering.

She nodded, trying not appear scared.

Pulling her with him, Zarraq walked up the stair case, calling to Winry on the way that he and Lucy were going to have a chat. He sounded so cheerful, Lucy would not have been surprised if she had fallen for it. He had always been strangely good at acting… only ever when in a foul mood.

They reached his room, he pushed her inside and slammed the door shut behind him. Lucy stood utterly still, her back to him. She was terrified. Ever since they were little he was the only one who could do that to her. Her whole body seemed to have gotten smaller. Her neck was bent, her shoulders hunched, her hands kept locking and interlocking.

"I need the truth now," he said slowly, "I need my past back. And you're the only one who can give it to me."

Lucy said nothing. The only sound she made was the small clink of the metal where her fingers kept meeting. He walked closer to her, trying to look at her face. She wasn't looking at him.

"Why won't you tell me?" he hissed at her, "what possible reason could there-" he looked at her and frowned. "You don't trust me?"

"I trust you," she whispered trying not to stammer.

"You were scared of me- you don't want me to revert back to that… what ever it was."

"No, I'm not." She was terrified of him.

"Then… you don't love me-"

"Of coarse I love you!" she burst out, finally looking at him. Her interruption shocked him. He took a step away from her, "you're my big brother. You looked after me and protected me- that's how you lost your memories in the first place!"

"Was it always like that? Did I protect you from the bullies? Did I hate any male who looked at you or something? Did I try and fight your battles? Did I?" he up close to her face again, watching her every move.

She couldn't look at him, her eyes were cast down, staring at the floor boards. She swallowed hard again.

"Or did I hate you? Didn't we get on as children? Did we only get closer as we grew up? Why won't you tell me!"

"B- b- because…" she stammered, "just… don't… push me. I'll tell you Zarraq, I promise… I'll tell you. Not yet though. Please not yet."

"WHY NOT YET!" he roared, "I HAVE BEEN WAITING MONTHS! IT'S BEEN NEARLY TWO YEARS AND I STILL REMEMBER NOTHING!"

She winced, her eyes closed, her hands locked together in front of her, she pressed her chin closer to her chest.

"If you love me why won't you tell me? Why don't you even bother trying to defend yourself."

"Zarraq I-"

"NO! Unless it's the damn truth about my fucking past- I DON'T WANNA KNOW."

He turned his back on her, pacing the room, his hands running through his wet hair. Lucy looked up. He was stressed, upset… hurt. She hated the fact that she had done that to him. She didn't know how to stop it.

"Zarraq please…" she walked over to him, reaching out, "just listen to me. I can't tell you yet-"

"Then… I don't want to hear anything from you."

"If you'll just-"

"NO!" his hand lashed out, smacking her cheek sending her reeling.

She stood for a moment, hand to the red mark, staring at him. Tears built up in her eyes. Zarraq stared at her. Lucy couldn't decide if he was still angry or if he was shocked. She didn't want to wait to find out. She ran out of the room without looking backwards.

She felt as though she were under water. Behind her people were yelling her name. She couldn't hear. She wasn't listening. She didn't want to. She ran into the shop, pulling on her gloves, replaced her sunglasses, pulled on her heavy jacket, and fled out of the room and down the street before anyone in the shop could catch up.

Zarraq was left with the door swinging closed and a quick flash of Lucy running. He simply stared at where that flash had been. Lucy had been crying. There were large tears rolling down her cheeks as she left.

Deep in the pit of his stomach he could feel movement. He felt as though he were going to be sick. He had hit his little sister. The one person in his life who he loved unconditionally even if they did not always see eye to eye. The one person he had to stop anyone else from hurting. And he had slapped her because she would not give him what he wanted. He could have waited… he could have! He didn't even understand why he had gotten so angry. It was just that something inside simply snapped and he had to know.

Winry soon joined him, confused at the clattering down the stairs. She found Zarraq standing perfectly still, staring out the window from behind the counter.

"What… what happened?" she asked hesitantly, walking over to Zarraq.

"We talked…" he said dryly.

"About your past?"

"About why she wouldn't tell me."

Winry put a hand on his arm looking up at him. He jerked away from her, turning around, not looking at her. His red eyes were fixed on the floor before him, his whole body was shaking. He was looking at his hands, as though the answer lay in them.

"What happened?" her voice was firmer, commanding.

"We… had a disagreement… I… I lost my temper…" his eyes closed, his hands curled into fists. He seemed to be trying to purge the memory from his mind through his hands. "I hit her, Win… I got angry and I hit her. She looked so scared…" His voice caught. He didn't understand. He was almost child like. "She looked so scared and then she ran. I want… I want to say I'm sorry but-"

"Ssshhh," whispered Winry, pulling the big man into a hug, unfurling his hands, "ssshh sshh sshh. She'll be back, you'll see. She just got a little startled."

"She'll never forgive me."

"Yes she will. She loves you. Unconditionally loves you. She always will. She'll forgive you. Then you just have to forgive yourself."

"I just… want to know. I want to know what happened to me… if she just gives me a little bit… maybe it'll come back. But she only told me about our trip… she didn't even tell me what it was for!"

Winry paused, still holding him close to her, letting him wrap his arms around her helplessly. She realised something. Lucy had never told them what had happened to Theodore Fuller. They had never gotten around to asking them… she had blinded them with her tales of her journey. Nothing else.

"She will… maybe not yet, in time she will."

He said nothing. He was still damning himself for harming her. Though part of himself was leaping for joy that Winry was holding him in such a way.

*

Outside, Lucy had stopped outside a book shop. There was a cover over the top. She was leaning against the window, a cigarette between her lips, tears streaming down her face. Her sobs were suppressed, it was the tears she could not prevent. She tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. It seemed to be working. No one was talking to her, looking at her. The rain had helped. No body paid attention to anyone else in the rain.

Lucy shivered. She hated the rain.

Further down the street, in a better mood, walked two men, one taller than the other. One was sandy haired Jean Havoc, without his signature cigarette. The other was golden eyed Edward Elric.

The two had bumped into each other, quite by chance, and were on their way to meet up with Falman and Breda. Furey and Sheska were busy.

It was Havoc who spotted the place where they could shelter, where he could pause long enough for his cigarette. As the two ducked under the shelter, not knowing who was accompanying them, Lucy hardly noticed them either. She was far too wrapped up in her misery.

"Are you ever going to give up?" asked Edward tiredly, "I thought there was evidence that it was damaging to your lungs."

Havoc shrugged as he took along draft. "What can I say? I like my addiction more than my lungs." He grinned at Edward. "It's apart of me Ed, like… like your automail or something. Admit it- you'd miss it if you really did get your full body back."

Edward hesitated. He'd never admit that aloud. Ever. He always insisted he'd do anything to get his normal body back. In reality… he had become attached to the metal that made up his arm and leg. He'd feel quite vulnerable without it.

It was during Edward's quiet that Havoc noticed they had company. At first he dismissed it. Another person sheltering from the rain to have a quick smoke before they left on their way. She was slender, small, with dark skin, black hair, and was wearing dark glasses. As he frowned at her, he could see tear tracks on her cheeks. A woman in distress… it was something he never could ignore.

He walked towards her… and recognised her. The shock of silver showed up. Havoc cursed himself silently. The dark glasses should have given her away if nothing else. No one walked around openly with sunglasses on at that time of year!

The cigarette in her mouth was almost at the filter. Without thinking, her lips parted, and the butt fell to the floor, landing in a puddle near her feet, where it sizzled out. Her arms moved automatically. Replacing the cigarette with another, lighting, taking a draw and letting it out again, without displacing the white stick.

He wandered for a moment how long she had been there. Her face appeared to have lost it's animation. She looked like a strange doll. Moving due to a series of pulleys and cogs. There was very little about her that made her seem… alive at that point.

"Lucy?" he said quietly. It appeared to knock Edward out of his revere. Lucy stayed still, "Lucy? Is that you?"

There was still no response from her. She had not moved.

Edward half recognised that look. It was similar to the stricken expression to had when trying to rescue Harry. Similar in the fact that nothing was getting to her, she was lost in her own world. He knew almost exactly how her eyes would look. His mind wandered through the multiple possibilities as to what could have made her become like that. Most of them returned back to Caedmon Weylin.

Havoc was by Lucy's side, not sure what to do. He wanted to shake her, maybe even check her pulse. This frightened him. This… Lifeless representation of a girl he had seen only a day previously telling him animatedly about stealing from a shop vendor because he had over charged her for a meal.

"Let me try," Edward said.

Havoc looked at him and nodded.

"Chaandi," he said curtly.

The name seemed to wake her up. She turned at looked at him. Her face was still slack, the cigarette still between her lips.

"Chaandi, are you ok?"

Slowly she shook her head. A fresh wave of tears washed over her. The white stick and it's collection of ash tumbled to the floor. She started shaking, tears rolled down her cheeks. She still made no noise.

"We need to get her out of this rain," Havoc said, as Edward stared at Lucy. Had he ever seen her cry? Like this? He didn't think so… what the hell had caused it! Last time she had just passed out!

"Yeah," he agreed, "yeah…"

Seeing Edward was now in no state to take charge, he was the one who took Lucy, his arm firmly around her narrow waist, getting her to follow him. She leaned against his side for support and walked with him. The shakes had subsided a little. The tears had not.

Lucy moving shook Edward to his sense. It was not the time to get shocked at seeing someone in a state they had never seen before. It was hardly appropriate. He followed the two, removing his jacket to put over Lucy's head, not wanting her to get any more wet. He wasn't sure if was working, he just didn't want to feel useless.

A little way down, Havoc lead them to a small, almost unnoticeable coffee shop down a side alley. It was tiny, a little run down, but almost homely. Inside, people were chatting amongst themselves, a few called a greeting to the soldier, who smiled and nodded in reply.

Towards the back, he sat Lucy down, removed his own jacket and put it around her shoulder, and took Edward's from him and put it across her torso, so her upper body was encased. He was worried the cold would cause her an illness. With all the metal connected to her body he would not have been surprised. He took the sofa opposite, as Edward sat beside her, wanting to hold her hand, tell her everything would be all right. He decided on a different route instead.

"Chaandi… Lucy…" he said slowly, Havoc seemed to be having trouble recollecting his thoughts, clearly his thought process had only consisted of 'get somewhere safe, get somewhere warm' and little else. "What happened Luce?"

She turned to look at him, he could feel those mismatched eyes boring into his. Watching him like she used to. "I…" she started quietly, her voice was horse, husky from the cold and the tears, "I… got into an argument."

"With Zarraq," Havoc said flatly, clearly his thoughts were in order.

She nodded. hesitantly. "He… he wanted to know about… his past."

The two men nodded, leaning closer to hear her better.

"I… I wouldn't tell him. I can't… I can't bring myself to yet."

"Yes…" prompted Edward.

"And… and…" she paused again, "we shouted at each other… things got out of hand…" she paused again. Her hand drifted towards her cheek, just for a moment. It still stung a little. Now in better light, her two companions could see the mark too. "And I left… crying… and he came after me… but… I… he… I don't know…"

Edward sighed. Zarraq had slapped her… that had explained a lot. Her state. Her shock. Her inability to explain herself. The last time Zarraq had laid a hand on her she had her ribs damaged and caught a fever of some kind.

The similarities were there… the rain, the shock… the hurt. The difference was, Lucy had left, and come to somewhere she felt safe. The book shop. Before she had wanted to leave Central altogether. It hadn't happened this time. Edward couldn't help the smile… did that mean she really felt like Central was her home?

"I'll get us some coffee," Edward said, standing up, passing Lucy, putting his left hand on her shoulder for a moment, "stay put all right?"

"Mmm…" she replied, no expression in her face or voice.

He hesitated before walking towards the counter to queue up to retrieve the coffee he had promised his friends.

Havoc sighed, got to his feet and took the younger alchemist's place beside Lucy. Without thinking he put his arm around the younger girl and pulled her closer to him, her head resting on his shoulder. Her glasses had slipped down her nose, he pushed them back up, knowing her hatred for showing people her eyes. She still wore the sunglasses when she visited the office. Only Lucy's family knew about why she wore them, leaving the rest of her family's colleagues still very curious as why she was so secretive about her face.

The fact that half her body was automail was well known amongst them all, and yet the secret behind the glasses remained. It made little sense to him.

"It'll get better," he told her softly, as her gloved hands clasped and unclasped in her hands. He took her right hand, stopping the nervous action entirely, "Zarraq will know to wait… he's just frustrated… and he's male. They don't like being left in the dark."

"They?" she looked up at him, "you're female?"

Havoc looked down at her, their noses were about an inch apart. She was smiling faintly. Havoc felt his face heat up suddenly and he looked away.

"Uh well no… you know what I mean…"

She placed her head back on his shoulder. "Thank you, Jean," she said softly.

"It's all right, everything will sort itself out," he told her, "I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I know I can keep this one."

Lucy chuckled, but didn't say anything else.

"Lucy?" came a vaguely familiar voice.

Lucy turned a little to the direction where the sound had come from. Standing beside them, looking confused was tall, fair Caedmon. She smiled sadly. "Hi Edan," she said.

He crouched beside her, taking her hand, "what happened? Are you all right?" He looked genuinely worried, almost scared for her. His blue eyes were wide, scanning her features almost trying to find the answer there.

"I… got into an argument with my brother," she said slowly, sitting up and away from Havoc. Havoc himself felt suddenly very cold. He studied Caedmon closely. He had heard about him from Alphonse and Edward, but neither brother agreed about how trust worthy the man was. Havoc himself now couldn't decide.

"What? What about?"

"Something… he can't remember."

He frowned for a moment. Then leaned upwards and kissed her forehead. "Are you all right?"

She hesitated before nodding. Caedmon clearly didn't believe her.

"Lucy, look at me."

She looked up at him. She could feel his blue eyes boring into her own, despite being covered by opaque sunglasses. He bent forewords and pressed his lips to hers for a moment, kissing her softly. He pulled away then stood.

"Uh… sorry… I don't know your name…" he flushed pink a little.

"Havoc, Jean Havoc, I'm a friend," Havoc said, trying not to sound irritated.

"Right… uh… well mr. Havoc-"

"Just Havoc," he told him quickly.

Caedmon smiled shyly. "Havoc… would you mind if I took Lucy away?"

Havoc tried not to frown as he studied the younger man. He seemed sincere. He had a hold of Lucy's felt hand, he obviously knew about her automail and didn't seem to care. He appeared to be honestly worried about her.

"It's not up to me," he said finally, he looked at Lucy, "you want to go?"

She nodded, slowly, "yeah… I think I just need to be away from people who know Zarraq at the moment."

She meant Edward, both of them knew that. Havoc hardly knew Zarraq apart from his name and when he saw him occasionally at Winry's shop. He smiled wanly at her and squeezed her right hand gently.

"Ok," he said, "I'll tell Ed."

"Thank you," she smiled, again it was very faint. She squeezed his hand back, and got up letting go of him, and following Caedmon through the shop and out the front door.

A moment later, Edward returned looking a little confused, in his hands were two mugs of steaming coffee.

"Did I just see Lucy leaving?" he asked, setting the coffees on the table, sitting opposite Havoc.

Havoc nodded. "Yeah… Caedmon turned up, she wanted to go with him. Said she needed to be away from people who knew Zarraq."

There was a moment's pause. Edward sat straight up, his body was utterly rigid, his eyes were on fire. Havoc had been expecting that.

"Why the hell did you let her go with him?!" he demanded, his voice rising, "he's no good, Havoc! You know that! I've told you-"

"Lay off, Full metal," grumbled Havoc, he only ever used his alchemist's name when he was frustrated or upset, "she wanted to go with him. Who am I to fuckin' stop her?"

"Her friend!"

"Friends don't control each other!" Havoc snapped, glaring at his own friend, on his feet, "you should know that."

Edward stared up at him, surprised. He never expected Havoc to get so angry with him. He shook his head. "You're right…" he grumbled, "I'm sorry."

Havoc blinked. "Uh… oh… right…" he sat down again slowly. Edward never conceded. What was he up to?

"We'll finish up the coffees before we meet the others. We don't exactly need them to go to waste do we?"

"Guess not…" Havoc replied. He tried not to examine Edward as he picked up the mug. It was difficult not to. As a military man, and having known Edward for as long as he had done, he could not help but feel suspicious about this change. Why was he so calm suddenly? What had changed? What was he up to?

*

Caedmon lead Lucy back to his apartment. It was in a nice part of town, people were friendly, the streets were clean and it looked safe. The rain was still pouring, and Lucy was still insisting on smoking despite this. She seemed to feel safer with the white stick between her lips. Caedmon simply put an arm around her, holding a black umbrella over the two of them, trying to keep her warm. She was shivering under his grip.

Soon they were inside and he was letting her into his flat on the sixth floor.

Inside was nice and simple. There was a small corridor that started on their right with rooms leading off them. From what Lucy remember the kitchen was opposite the front door. a little further down, beside that was the living room come dining room. Beside that was a bedroom, a spare for visitors. Opposite was Caedmon's own room, which he chose for his own as the windows opened onto the open street and gave him a decent view of the city. Beside Caedmon's room was a bathroom and opposite that, beside the spare room, was a cupboard for storage. At the end of the narrow corridor was a modest sized window that gave another view of Central.

Caedmon lead her passed the kitchen and into the living room where a small dining table was set, towards a corner with six chairs around it. On the other side of the room was a low coffee table, around which were three sofas and three comfy chairs. There were books and magazines piled around ever where and a radio on the mantle piece behind the largest sofa where a fireplace had once been. The colours were sombre and unmemorable beiges, browns and pale yellows. It was nice enough and it felt homely. Though somehow Lucy felt it was only the books and magazines that even showed that Caedmon owned the place.

He had once told her the only reason he hadn't made the place his own was because he didn't intend on staying in such a small flat. He wanted a proper house, he just had to start somewhere.

He lead her over to the largest sofa and sat her down, and knelt before her. Her cigarette was still between her lips. He reached round for the ashtray and place it on her lap. It appeared that she was in so much of a daze that she didn't seem to quite be able comprehend much of what was around her.

As she took took a long draft from her cigarette, then removed it from her lips to tap the ash into the tray, Caedmon took her left hand.

"That's a bad habit you know," he told her.

She shrugged. "Could be worse."

It was the same reply she gave every time he told her off for smoking. She really did not care.

"You know…" he said softly, "sometimes I wander… why do you care so little…"

She chuckled, she finally looked at him. He knew, he could feel it. "Curiosity killed the cat," she told him, "sometimes digging into pasts can hurt you more than it hurt's the person."

He frowned. "What?"

"Never mind," she looked away again, replacing the cigarette, it was almost at the filter by this point, she took her hand from his pushing her glasses back into place. A tear rolled down her cheek. Quickly followed by another.

"Lucy-"

"Do you have a drink?" she asked suddenly, stubbing out her cigarette, reaching for another one, "I need something strong."

"I'll make a co-"

"Stronger." She was looking into her packet frowning. She was almost out.

Caedmon stared at her then sighed getting to his feet. He knew she could hold her drink, and it was about four in the afternoon. He was hardly about to stop her. Lucy seemed to have had a hard day.

"I'll find something."

Lucy nodded, her lighter was out and her right hand was un-gloved, lighting the stick. When he left, she quickly replaced her glove and stayed put.

Her mind was at a blank.

She wasn't sure what she was thinking any more. She wasn't even sure why she had left Havoc and Edward. They were people she knew… and knew her. She always felt safe with them, no questions asked. She hardly knew Caedmon. She knew a lot about him, she was coming to know his personality. It wasn't the same though. She was still getting to know him.

Five minutes passed. It could have been five hours and she would not have noticed but for the travel of the sun. Caedmon returned a bowl of chips in one hand and a small glass of a dark liquid. Some kind of liquor. She didn't care what sort it was.

He handed it to her wordlessly and sat beside as she tipped it back, then shuddered at the taste and the heat that went down her throat.

"Lucy you're crying," he said.

"I am?" she put her glass down, and pushed the tears away.

"Please tell me what happened," he begged her, "you're scaring me now."

She smiled sadly. "I can be scarier."

"I'm fairly certain of that. This is different. What happened with your brother? What was that out burst about the past?" He took her comfort cigarette away, stubbing it out in the ash tray, and wrapped his arms around her pulling her into his chest, holding her close. She could feel his heart pumping as she relaxed.

"It… everything really started… just over three years ago…"

Somehow Lucy found herself telling Caedmon about coming to Central, finding the Elrics and Winry, befriending them. Finding her aunt and cousin. Of how she and her brother had been and why. What changed and how. How she found out she had another half brother. Why he hated her… the revenge he wrecked. Then later the trip they took to look for him. She told him everything… but as usual she skipped the details of Zarraq's accident and what she did to Fuller, she didn't even tell Caedmon what happened after she left Zarraq, just that she came back to Central after she found her other half brother.

"So…" Caedmon started slowly, "you don't want to tell your brother… because you don't want him to only get the bad memories back?"

She nodded. "I love the fact that he loves me now. It's just like when we left Central together. If he doesn't remember making up with me… becoming the brother I always wanted… I'll fall apart. I've finally got the family I've always dreamed about, Edan! It's what I've wanted since I was five." She looked up at him, his blue eyes were still bright despite the darkness of her glasses. "I can't loose it…"

He pulled her head closer kissing the crown of her head. "You won't… you'll see. Everything will work out for the better. Tell him everything, from beginning to end, when you think the time is right and not before. And he loves you, he's not going to forget about that in an instant. He remembered you. No one else, just you. He knew who you were when he woke up. He's hardly going to forget these feelings for you."

"I hope so," she smiled gently. It was the most obvious smile she had all day. While it didn't light up her whole face, she still looked like the Lucy Caedmon had come to know rather than the sad creature he'd been comforting moments before.

Almost as though he couldn't help himself, he pulled her face close and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her hard. Lucy found herself returning the kiss, almost desperately. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer her. Resulting in the two of the falling back against the sofa. It was then that Caedmon pulled away.

Lucy stared up at him, her glasses still on. He was studying her face as though it was the first time he was really seeing it. There was a small smile on his lips. He bent down and kissed her gently before pushing away from her again.

"This is probably a bad time…" he began, "but… fuck it… Lucy, I like you, I really like. I don't want us to just be-"

"Edan?"

"Yeah?"

"I hate speeches, you know that."

"Oh… right…" he flushed red, "Luce…" he smirked, "wanna be my girlfriend?"

She pushed herself up onto her elbow, smirking at him. "Yeah… sounds good to me."

"Good."

He arms wrapped around her again, her fingers became lost in his hair and their lips crashed together passionately.

*

Later that evening, Elysia, Gracia, Rose and Leo had arrived at Winry's flat. No one had seen Lucy since she had left with Caedmon. No one was really worried, they just wanted to see her again, wanted to see she was safe with their own eyes.

Zarraq was pacing, trying not to vocalise his worries to everyone. He needed to see her again. From the moment he slapped her onwards he felt like a monster. The look of utter fear in her eyes had registered only then. There was a stirring in the back of his mind, like that of a memory awakening. He didn't want it if it was related to violence against his little sister. He was now more scared than ever of his past… and more than ever he had to know. At the same time, he didn't want to force Lucy into telling him what had transpired between them before. Even if he was frustrated. He would find out… just not yet.

Edward on the other hand was just as agitated. Instead he showed it by getting a beer out then refusing to drink it properly, only taking tiny sips. Winry could tell from that alone that he was worried. Havoc had told her when Edward had gotten home that he had been angry with him when he had let Lucy go with Caedmon. Winry was still frustrated with Edward for being so protective, without even understanding why.

Tensions were high. Elysia and Leo were playing together, a board game, trying to keep as quiet as possible. Rose, Winry and Gracia were talking together, quietly, trying to ignore the men. Edward watched Zarraq pace, the can in his hand crumpling slowly. Alphonse was the only one oblivious, reading a novel that Lucy had leant him, he was fully intent on finishing it.

By eight, Lucy walked in. The rain had stopped by that time, and the change in mood for Lucy had significant. The weather was still incredibly cold, yet for once she wasn't complaining about it.

The moment Zarraq set eyes on her, he rushed towards her, then stopped just as he reached her. He was terrified that she was still scared of him.

She looked up at him and removed her sunglasses, placing them on the table beside the door.

"Where's my hug?" was all she asked.

His own red eyes wide, he pulled his little sister into a tight hug and held her close, his cheek resting on the crown of her skull, her smaller arms were around his waist her head against his chest. Neither of them said a word. They didn't want to… they didn't have to. That action was enough.

They stood there for a good few long moments. Behind them everyone relaxed. The chatter became louder, the children teased each other and Edward finally took a large gulp of his drink.

The two siblings walked back into the room, looking significantly happier. Lucy greeted the children in the room, kissing and hugging them both, hugged both Elric brothers and planted herself beside the women greeting them all and joining in the conversation, not before demanding to meet George from Rose.

Edward and Zarraq did not know it, but both were grateful life had returned to normal. Of coarse, Alphonse at this point was utterly oblivious that anything had happened at all. He simply knew that everything had gotten louder. He gave up on the books, and decided to join the kids on the floor. He liked board games, they were usually games of luck; mindless and harmless.

As he glanced around he could see there was something different about Lucy. She was just as animated with them, her movements were just the same… it was something in her mismatched eyes that twinkled… something in her smile that made it brighter. Something good had happened.

"Lucy?" he said suddenly, looking up at her, Leo in his lap.

"Yeah!" she looked at him, attentive.

"What happened when you went out?" he asked innocently.

All of a sudden everyone was very interested. All attention was focused on Lucy who flushed under the scrutiny. Only Edward was looking nervous- he and Winry were the only ones who knew she had gone off with Caedmon for the afternoon. The others were merely curious.

She looked down at her fingers, her left thumb and forefinger twisting around the right forefinger. "Wh- why do you ask?"

"I dunno… you just look…" he searched for the right word, "more sparkly? I'm not sure… something like that."

She flushed a deep red than before, she was smiling broadly, unable to hide it. "Well… uh… Edan- Caedmon… he… we… we're together officially now," she told them, hesitantly.

Around her there was a moment's pause then… Elysia launched herself at her big sister, engulfing her in a tight hug, congratulating her. Almost altogether in a wave, the rest of her family told her of how happy they were and how glad they were she had found someone. Even Zarraq begrudgingly said he was happy for her, even if he clearly didn't like the idea of sharing her without an outsider male.

Edward had not moved a muscle since she had told them. He had his eyes fixed on her, the can in his hand was slowly being crushed. He tried to appear relaxed when Lucy looked at him. He was the only one who hadn't come foreword. He hadn't even said anything. Lucy wasn't even aware that her friend disliked this new man so much.

Lucy couldn't help looking for Edward at that point. She wanted to see his reaction, wanted to see what he thought. She was sure he'd be glad that she had begun to have feelings for another. Instead she got a blank stare that she not decipher.

"That's great Luce!" Edward said finally, "it's fantastic!"

She beamed at him. "Thanks!" she walked over to him, hugging him tightly for a moment, then getting up to talk to the women, who want to know how it happened.

Edward sat for a moment, crushing his can. He didn't like it. The whole situation, he didn't like it. There was something going on beneath the surface, he could feel it. Caedmon was not a man he trusted in general, let alone with his good friend's feelings.

*

In the ruins of the Ishballan refugee camp, the gang of seven met again. Caedmon had barely been listening to what the others had said. What had happened that day… the information he had gathered… it was almost making him dizzy. He tried focusing his bright eyes on the table before him, but his memory kept wandering back to what she said said… her voice… her lips… her ski- he cut himself off. Now he was getting in too deep.

"Caedmon!" his leader's voice cut through his thoughts.

He sat up straight looking the built Ishballan man in the eye. "Yes sir!"

Beside him, the leader's brother giggled, his voice was high pitched and whiney. Same as ever. It grated against Caedmon's skin. That little suck up was the only one who he could not stand… which was saying something considering the sort of people Caedmon usual associated with.

"I believe you said you had something to report," his leader said calmly, watching him over her dark glasses with his deep red eyes.

Without really thinking, Caedmon wandered if behind her glasses she had the same red eyes… he had yet to see her without them…

Mentally shaking himself, Caedmon nodded. "Yeah… I think our plans might have to be shaken a bit."

"Oh? And why is that."

Caedmon shivered. That tone…

"It's our target… it appears that… according to his sister, he has no memories beyond little over a year ago. And she so far refuses to even try and prompt him."

That silence everyone. The leader's brow furrowed. "No memories?"

"Amnesia. A blow to the head was all the woman will tell me. She won't give the me circumstances-"

"They don't matter…" he trailed off, "hummm…"

"Would the sister be of any use?" he asked slowly, "I mean they are-"

"No, she won't work. They may have the same blood… they are still different people… No… we'll just have to find some way to prompt his memories. This whole plan will be useless without him."

Caedmon shivered once again. That brother and sister… they were both important, even if the brother was more needed to implement their plans… It just shocked Caedmon how important these two siblings were.

After the meeting, on the way home, Xiao-niao caught up with him. They lived only a few blocks apart and worked together. At work, they appeared to everyone to be forging a friendship. It would not have been surprising to see the two walking home together.

"You're not getting attached, are you?" she asked suddenly.

He looked at her. "Attached?"

"The girl."

He flushed, grateful for the darkness. "Of coarse not. Why would I? That would interfere without places. I know that."

"Human emotion… it's a powerful thing."

"Look, Xiao, the girl is fun, she's hot… physically, it's great. Same as most other woman," he smirked, cocky as ever, "attached? Have you ever known me to get attached? She's needed. She's a good source of information. And some fun for me. Nothing else."

Xiao-niao looked up at him. "I have told you I hate the way you talk about women, right?"

He laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "All the time, thought you would'a gotten used to it by now."

She shook her head. "I'll see you at work tomorrow, Caedmon."

"Later Xiao."

The two separated, going towards their own homes.

At the font door of his apartment building, Caedmon paused. Attached? That was a word never associated with him. But… attached? Could… no… just because he couldn't get the feel of her skin… the sound of her voice… the way that she kissed… it didn't mean that he was…

He wasn't. He just wasn't. He wasn't allowed to be. He stepped into the building. Slamming the door behind him.


End file.
